Yellen to push next steps for development bank evolution at spring meetings

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday will host a roundtable discussion on further steps to evolve the World Bank and other development lenders to tackle climate change and other global crises beyond a $5 billion annual World Bank lending expansion, the Treasury said.

The discussion on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings will bring together finance ministers from major shareholders and borrowing countries that will cover "ways to maintain momentum to evolve the multilateral development banks to better meet current challenges," the Treasury said in a statement.

The World Bank has proposed balance sheet changes that would quickly allow it to lend an additional $50 billion over 10 years while maintaining its top-tier AAA credit rating, a step widely expected to be adopted by bank shareholders this week.

A U.S. Treasury official called the move a "downpayment" on the reforms for the World Bank and other multilateral development banks, an early opportunity "to get the process rolling."