HR 3224
International Financial Institution Improvements Act of 2025
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Bill overview
This bill, the International Financial Institution Improvements Act of 2025, aims to enhance the operations and accountability of international financial institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. It seeks to strengthen support for low-income countries, particularly through debt forgiveness and increased funding for resilience and sustainability initiatives. The bill also includes provisions to promote human rights and environmental standards in global financial projects and to address issues like sexual exploitation and corruption within these institutions.
Key provisions
- Encourages international financial institutions to increase transparency in host nations regarding projects and activities.
- Requires collaboration with civil society organizations in the design and implementation of financial institution policies.
- Advocates for the United States to lead in debt forgiveness efforts for low-income countries.
- Prohibits the withdrawal of U.S. funds from international financial institutions without congressional consent.
- Amends the Articles of Agreement of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to accept an amendment deleting Article III, Section 3.
- Directs the U.S. Executive Director at the IMF to advocate for incorporating specific elements into the Debt Sustainability Framework for Low-Income Countries.
- Authorizes the U.S. to contribute to the African Development Fund's sixteenth replenishment.
- Increases the U.S. subscription to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's capital stock.
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119th CONGRESS — 1st Session
H. R. 3224
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
A BILL
To enhance the operations and accountability of international financial institutions, strengthen support for low-income countries, and promote human rights and environmental standards in global financial projects.
This Act may be cited as the International Financial Institution Improvements Act of 2025
.
The table of contents of this Act is as follows:
Title XV of the International Financial Institutions Act (22 U.S.C. 262o–262o–4) is amended by adding at the end the following:
The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States Executive Director at each international financial institution (as defined in section 1701(c)(2)) to encourage the respective institution to publicize the nature and purpose of any project, loan, investment, or other activity being pursued by the institution in any country, in simple terms designed to increase the understanding of the citizens of the country of the good work conducted by the institution and better explain who will benefit from the activity.
The policies developed pursuant to subsection (a) should—
articulate mechanisms for how to engage in different contexts and should be adapted to the purpose of the engagement, and set clear timelines and dates for consultations, taking into account project timelines;
require mission chiefs to meet with a wide range of stakeholders from civil society from conceptualization through completion of the project or loan involved;
should require the institution to set clear parameters, dates, and mechanisms to conduct genuine and meaningful consultations with civil society organization policy in the different review processes, and develop new policies and strategies.
the commonalities in successive debt-restructuring challenges across the frameworks and forums in which the United States participates, such as the types of debt relief that countries are able to provide, the terms of debt relief, and the reclassification of public debt as private debt by certain creditors;
the options available to provide debt relief to developing countries with an intransigent creditor while protecting United States taxpayer resources and ensuring that United States taxpayer money is not being used to fund payments to intransigent creditor nations;
the oversight and policy priorities of the United States in the negotiations in the debt-negotiation forums in which the United States participates;
the likelihood that low-income developing countries can gain or retain access to private capital markets even if the countries are in default on debt owed to sovereign creditors, and how to increase that likelihood; and
Making informing debt restructuring processes
an explicit purpose of the Framework.
Increasing the transparency of macroeconomic assumptions used to inform sustainability estimates and the rationale for the assumptions, including for projected gross domestic product, exports, fiscal balance, fiscal balance financing, and expected debt restructuring.
Including investments identified in national plans to meet the Sustainable Development Goals and the Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Climate Agreement in the fiscal balance projections and the impact of the investments on economic growth.
Ensuring that when debt restructuring is needed, it is sufficient to lower such country to no more than a moderate risk of debt distress even in medium-term stress scenarios.
Increasing the severity of stress scenarios to counteract the historical optimism bias of the Framework.
Adding the ratio of total (external plus domestic) public debt service to government revenue, as an indicator of debt sustainability.
Title XV of the International Financial Institutions Act (22 U.S.C. 262o–262o–4) is further amended by adding at the end the following:
Unless Congress by law authorizes such action, the United States may not terminate participation in, or withdraw from, an international financial institution (as defined in section 1701(c)(2) of the International Financial Institutions Act), or withhold appropriated funds required by law to be paid to such an institution.
The Bretton Woods Agreements Act (22 U.S.C. 286–286aaa) is amended—
by adding at the end the following:
The United States Governor of the Bank may accept on behalf of the United States an amendment to Articles of Agreement of the Bank to delete Article III, Section 3, of the Articles of Agreement of the Bank.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, acting in consultation with the National Advisory Council on International Monetary and Financial Problems, is authorized to suspend the provisions of subsection (a) of this section at any time as to any or all securities issued or guaranteed by the Association during the period of such suspension. The Commission shall include in its annual reports to the Congress such information as it shall deem advisable with regard to the operations and effect of this section.
The amendment made by subsection (a) shall take effect 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall direct the United States Executive Director at the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development—
The Secretary of the Treasury may waive the requirement of subsection (a) if the Secretary determines that it is in the national interest of the United States to do so.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall direct the United States Executive Director at the International Development Association to use the voice and vote of the United States to oppose the provision by the International Development Association of any additional funding for the Private Sector Window in any replenishment round.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall direct the United States Executive Directors at the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and at the Inter-American Development Bank to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to advocate that the Bank create a long-term strategy and plan for economic development in Haiti, and, within 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Congress a written report analyzing Bank support for Haiti and how to strengthen the support.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall direct the United States Executive Director at the International Development Association to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to advocate that the Bank conduct a feasibility study on the development of a consortium bank model in the Caribbean region, with goals including managing issues related to financial access and correspondent banking services and reversing the trend of regional bank de-risking, and to complete the study within 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Subsection (a) shall have no force or effect beginning 3 years after the date of the enactment of this section.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall direct the United States Executive Director at the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to encourage the Bank to require that the provision of financing for a shipping or port project include risk mitigation plans to minimize corruption and crime, including—
specialized compliance officers trained in international shipping regulations and sanctions compliance;
risk assessment teams responsible for evaluating potential threats and suspicious activities; and
on-site legal advisors to provide immediate guidance on compliance and legal issues;
enhanced vessel tracking systems, such as long-range identification and tracking systems, to provide continuous monitoring of vessel positions;
integrated information management systems, such as centralized data management platforms for real-time sharing of vessel and cargo information among port authorities, customs, and security agencies;
plans for regular compliance audits and inspections, including—
scheduled and random audits of shipping documentation, cargo, and vessel operations to ensure adherence to regulations;
comprehensive inspection protocols for high-risk shipments, including physical checks and verification of cargo manifests; and
personnel trained in verifying the origin of petroleum and petroleum products and their blends and grades, and in corroborating certificates of origin for oil cargos;
community and stakeholder engagement plans, including—
public awareness campaigns to educate local communities and port workers about the importance of shipping transparency and compliance; and
collaboration with industry stakeholders to develop and implement best practices for risk mitigation and compliance;
technology-driven surveillance capacity, including satellite imagery for remote monitoring of port activities and vessel movements; and
robust reporting and whistleblower programs, including—
confidential reporting channels for employees and stakeholders to report suspicious activities without fear of retaliation; and
incentive programs to encourage the reporting of compliance breaches and illicit activities.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall direct the United States Executive Director at the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to use the voice and vote of the United States to advocate that the Bank work internally and with partner organizations to support international efforts to deny safe havens for stolen assets and promote asset recovery to return assets to their legitimate owners.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall direct the United States Executive Director at the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to use the voice and vote of the United States to continue the pause by the Bank on disbursements and the making of new financing commitments to the Government of Burma, which was initiated after a military coup overthrew the democratically elected Government of Burma in 2021, unless the Secretary of the Treasury determines that it is not in the public interest to do so.
Within 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury shall submit to the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a written report on any determinations and recommendations made pursuant to subsection (a).
IAM) of the respective bank, through engagement with bank management and other executive directors at the bank.
all IAM cases that have been opened in the year covered by the report or remain open; and
provision of information on the engagement by each such bank in the IAM cases including implementation of Management Action Plans developed in response to IAM cases, noting when any such bank has not sufficiently implemented a Management Action Plan in a timely manner.
SEA).
The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States Executive Director at each multilateral development bank (as defined in section 1701(c)(4) of the International Financial Institutions Act) to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to advocate that any loan agreement entered into by the respective bank, whether for a public or private sector project, be made public.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States Executive Director at each multilateral development bank (as defined in section 1701(c)(4) of the International Financial Institutions Act) to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to encourage the respective bank to adopt anti-reprisal and retaliation standards in the safeguards policies and loan agreements of the bank to enhance accountability when reprisals occur.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States Executive Director at each multilateral development bank (as defined in section 1701(c)(4) of the International Financial Institutions Act) to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to support the public disclosure by the respective bank of—
the internal methodologies of the bank for calculating the extent to which projects financed by the bank affect climate change; and
an explanation of the processes and practices of the bank for making these calculations.
support projects that decrease the reliance of countries on Russia for agricultural commodities, particularly fertilizer and grain;
ensure the resilience of global grain supplies; and
stimulate private investment in the projects.
The Secretary of the Treasury may waive subsection (a) in the national interest of the United States.
the date that is 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act; or
The Secretary of the Treasury shall direct the United States Executive Director at the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to strongly urge the Bank to eliminate the indicators with respect to the Minimum Wage Rate, which is a labor indicator that penalizes countries for having high minimum wages, and the Financial Burden on Firms, which is a labor indicator that penalizes countries with higher corporate taxes, from the Business Ready Report of the Bank.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall direct the United States Executive Director at the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to use the voice and vote of the United States to urge the Bank to develop a comprehensive database that lists all assistance being provided, on a bilateral or multilateral basis, to countries eligible for assistance from the Bank, categorized by whether the assistance is technical assistance, project development assistance, or another type of assistance, and that, with respect to each entry, shows the purpose for which the assistance is being provided and the provider and recipient of the assistance. The Secretary of the Treasury shall urge the Bank to annually publish this information publicly, to increase transparency and maximize collaboration across bilateral and multilateral funding streams.
Title XIII of the International Financial Institutions Act (22 U.S.C. 262m–262m–8) is amended by adding at the end the following:
The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund to use the voice and vote of the United States to advocate for a program that allows any country that is eligible for assistance from the International Development Association or that the Fund considers a small state, and that experiences a climate-related disaster (as defined by the Fund), to suspend all debt repayments to the Fund and the accrual of any additional interest on debt to the Fund, for 5 years or until the gross domestic product of the country is at least 80 percent of the gross domestic product of the country before the disaster, whichever is later.
Title XVI of the International Financial Institutions Act (22 U.S.C. 262p–262p–18) is amended by adding at the end the following:
The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund to use the voice and vote of the United States to encourage the Fund to reduce or eliminate conditions on loans made by the Fund that—
limit spending on key social needs such as health, education, or climate action;
weaken environmental, labor, public health regulations; or
increase taxes or reduce subsidies in such a way that falls regressively on recipient country populations.
Title XV of the International Financial Institutions Act (22 U.S.C. 262o–262o–4) is further amended by adding at the end the following:
The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund to use the voice and vote of the United States to encourage—
the incorporation into Fund lending agreements of anti-corruption measures, including by ensuring that governments receiving loans make specific, measurable, and time-bound commitments as part of the loan agreements with consequences for noncompliance, which commitments should be tailored to the needs of each country, made in consultation with local civil society organizations, and made in consideration with baselines for proper governance worldwide, such as through beneficial ownership registries, transparent and competitive public contracting, asset declarations for public officials, a strong anti-money laundering and combating terrorist financing regime, robust oversight by independent government entities and civil society organizations, and independent judiciaries;
the production and publication of more governance diagnostics as part of loan programs, the urging of governments to agree to the exercise and to make the reports public on completion, incorporating recommendations of the diagnostics as commitments, and the continuation of leveraging Article IV consultations and Financial Sector Assessment Programs to elevate anticorruption and financial integrity issues among their broader economic and policy analysis;
the engagement of in-country civil society organizations (CSOs) and local experts throughout loan programs, including by—
consulting CSOs at the outset of negotiations to help inform Fund staff assessments of loan program priorities;
providing updates to and request input from CSOs during the program development process, and
ensuring sufficient access to information and resources for CSO monitoring of commitment implementation, without threats or other retaliation by governments if there are honest critiques raised by a CSO;
the improvement of transparency by including on the Funds country pages, on the website of the Fund, a list of the prior actions
and structural benchmarks
included in loan programs, and pursuing a consistent cross-country approach to assessing government implementation and linking findings to surveillance and lending transparency;
the holding of governments accountable to their commitments, by—
ensuring that governments credibly carry out commitments;
refraining from issuing waivers of non-observance for benchmarks related to governance and financial integrity due to lack of political will; and
promptly publishing audits; and
the public reporting of the progress of implementing the governance commitments that governments make as part of the loan agreements.
The Bretton Woods Agreements Act (22 U.S.C. 286–286aaa) is further amended—
by adding at the end the following:
The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States Executive Director at the Fund to advocate that the Fund have a Fifth Deputy Managing Director who is a national of a low- or middle-income country and who represents all low- or middle-income countries other than the People’s Republic of China.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund to use the voice and vote of the United States to advocate for the Fund to support the Resilience and Sustainability Trust and the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust with Fund resources.
Section 7071(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2024 (division F of Public Law 118–47) is amended—
by striking all that precedes of the Treasury
and inserting the following:
by striking (in this subsection referred to as the
and inserting PRGT
) of the International Monetary Fund (in this subsection referred to as the IMF
)or the Resilience and Sustainability Trust of the International Monetary Fund
;
by striking to the PRGT, subject to paragraph (2)
; and
by striking paragraph (2).
The Bretton Woods Agreements Act (22 U.S.C. 286–286aaa) is further amended by adding at the end the following:
The authority provided by subsection (a) shall be effective only to such extent and in such amounts as are provided in advance in appropriations Acts.
Section 17(a)(3) of the Bretton Woods Agreements Act (22 U.S.C. 286e–2(a)(3)) is amended by inserting , and, of the amounts authorized under this paragraph, the authorization for the dollar equivalent of 9,186,740,000 Special Drawing Rights shall expire as of the date when the rollback of the United States credit arrangement in the New Arrangements to Borrow of the International Monetary Fund is effective, but no earlier than when the increase of the United States quota authorized in section 77 of the Bretton Woods Agreements Act becomes effective
before the period.
the surcharges imposed by the International Monetary Fund on member countries of the Fund; and
Subsection (a) shall have no force or effect 1 year after the date that the Secretary determines that the International Monetary Fund has eliminated the imposition of surcharges with respect to loans provided by the Fund.
The African Development Fund Act (22 U.S.C. 290g–290g–26) is amended by adding at the end the following:
In order to pay for the United States contribution provided for in subsection (a), there are authorized to be appropriated, without fiscal year limitation, $591,000,000 for payment by the Secretary of the Treasury.
The African Development Bank Act (22 U.S.C. 290i–290i–12) is amended by inserting at the end the following:
Any subscription by the United States to the capital stock of the Bank shall be effective only to such extent and in such amounts as are provided in advance in appropriations Acts.
For the increase in the United States subscription to the Bank under subsection (a), there is authorized to be appropriated, without fiscal year limitation, $7,800,000,000, for payment by the Secretary of the Treasury for callable shares of the Bank.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Act (22 U.S.C. 290l–290l–9) is amended by adding at the end the following:
The United States Governor of the Bank is authorized to subscribe on behalf of the United States to 40,000 additional shares of the paid-in capital stock of the Bank.
Any subscription by the United States to additional paid-in capital stock of the Bank shall be effective only to such extent and in such amounts as are provided in advance in appropriations Acts.
In order to pay for the increase in the United States subscription to the Bank under subparagraph (A), there are authorized to be appropriated, without fiscal year limitation, $439,100,000, for payment by the Secretary of the Treasury.