| I’m Chris Anstey, an economics editor in Washington for the IMF/World Bank meetings. Today we’re looking at the US Treasury chief’s comments on the IMF and World Bank. Send us feedback and tips to ecodaily@bloomberg.net. And if you aren’t yet signed up to receive this newsletter, you can do so here. After President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the World Health Organization, shuttered its main overseas development agency and two of his cabinet members skipped ministerial meetings with Group of 20 counterparts, there was arguably reason to wonder how the administration thought about the IMF and World Bank. The IMF counts on the US as its biggest source of funding, and the World Bank has traditionally been led by an American-picked president. Nations round the world count on the two Washington-based institutions for rescues in times of crisis along with longer-term development assistance. Since their foundation after World War II, they were key channels for advocating for more liberal economic policies. As the IMF-World Bank spring meetings got underway, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made clear there would be no wrecking ball coming at the sister institutions. “The IMF and World Bank serve critical roles in the international system. And the Trump administration is eager to work with them — so long as they can stay true to their missions,” he said in a speech on the sidelines of the spring confab. He listed a number of reforms he’d like to see, something his host, Institute of International Finance President and CEO Tim Adams, noted was in keeping with past norms for the US Treasury. (Indeed, Bessent’s appearance at the IIF event were in keeping with those — Adams hosted his predecessor Janet Yellen during the fall 2024 IMF-World Bank gathering.)  Tim Adams Photographer: Betty Laura Zapata/Bloomberg More broadly, the Treasury secretary reinforced backing for the central role of the US and its dollar in the global financial system. “I think that the US will always, for my lifetime, be the reserve currency,” said Bessent, age 62. “Our reaffirming our belief in these international institutions is also part of that.” He also quipped of the global reserve role, saying “I am actually not sure that anyone else wants it.” For Europeans that favor their single currency as a secondary alternative, Bessent pointed out that the region “just had substantial appreciation of the euro” that will put a lot of pressure on member economies that rely on exports. “There’s a massive collective sigh of relief that the US is intending to stay engaged,” said Doug Rediker, managing partner of International Capital Strategies and a former US representative at the IMF executive board. “There was a risk that this would go into that black hole” of DOGE-style “destruction,” he said. Adams, himself a former senior Treasury official, concluded the Bessent event saying, “what we’ve heard today from you is the sober voice of reason.” Don’t Miss the Latest Trumponomics Podcast | What are the long-term implications of Trump’s attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell? Host Stephanie Flanders, Bloomberg’s head of government and economics, is joined by Krishna Guha, vice chairman of Evercore ISI and head of its Global Policy and Central Bank Strategy Team, and Bloomberg managing editor for US economics Kate Davidson. Listen here and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Best of Bloomberg Economics | - Trump said that imposing a higher tax rate on millionaires would spur the country’s richest to leave the US. That’s something already happening in the UK.
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The Atlanta Fed’s widely watched GDPNow tracking estimate of US economic growth is getting an update, as researchers at the bank adopt a new model that adjusts for gold imports — which recently have distorted estimates. The model has been “sometimes an outlier relative to professional forecasters,” said Patrick Higgins, a policy adviser and economist in the Atlanta Fed’s research department. That’s due in part to gold, which, when used for investment purposes, is excluded from official GDP figures. Gold imports surged in recent months on safe-haven buying and concerns about tariffs. That’s in turn artificially depressing the GDPNow tracking estimate.  A gold drink coaster on a coffee table during a meeting with Emmanuel Macron, France's president, and US President Donald Trump at the White House, Feb. 24, 2025 Photographer: Bonnie Cash/UPI “It’s also plausible that gold imports could meaningfully distort the (current) standard model’s nowcast in the second quarter — hence, the switch,” Higgins said. | 
