§262k Financial Assistance to International Financial Institutions; Considerations and Criteria

Summary

Directs the Treasury Secretary to tell U.S. representatives at certain global banks to steer American aid toward projects that promote economic and social development, especially in developing countries. Congress wants U.S. help to back a free, stable world economy and to avoid projects that create extra world supply, push out private investment, or move countries away from market-based systems. Representatives must think about how country adjustment programs affect industries and world commodity markets, try to reduce harm, and avoid government subsidies for production or exports that ignore market conditions. For projects that create or expand mining, smelting, refining, or metal fabrication capacity, the U.S. Executive Director should vote against them if private lenders could finance them on reasonable terms, if the U.S. Bureau of Mines finds surplus capacity for more than half the project’s expected life, or if U.S. imports are less than 50 percent of domestic production when the U.S. is a major producer. The rule applies to the IMF, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Development Association, the Inter‑American Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the African Development Bank.