Yellen Defends Bretton Woods Institutions Against Challenge From China, Accused Beijing of Acting as “Roadblock” in Zambia

U.S Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen criticized China's slow pace of debt relief in countries like Zambia during a conference hosted last week by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. Image via CSIS.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen forcefully defended the primacy of the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) in response to China’s demand that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund also take losses on their loans to developing countries.

Yellen called for sweeping reforms of these Washington, D.C.-based institutions in an address late last week at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a U.S. think tank, but rejected Beijing’s repeated calls that the Bretton Woods organizations participate equally in debt restructuring processes, including by taking write-downs.

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by Eric Olander

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