The World Bank aims to increase its critical minerals business fivefold over the next five years, while US Federal Reserve chairman Kevin Warsh expressed surprise at the resilience of major economies amid geopolitical shocks and tighter monetary policy.
"In critical minerals, we plan to quintuple our business in five years … this week, we launched our first country compacts with MDB partners, to build local industries and keep more jobs and value at home," World Bank president Ajay Banga said at the 2026 IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok on Friday, as the multilateral lender seeks to support mining, processing and local industries.
He also outlined plans to expand partnerships with countries developing critical minerals industries.
The World Bank's new metals and minerals implementation plan is aimed at securing $19 billion in critical minerals financing over the 2026-2030 fiscal period, up from $3.6 billion in the 2021-2025 fiscal period.
The lender has identified 20 countries with which it could partner on critical minerals development projects. It also launched its first country compacts with its partners this week, aiming to build local industries and retain more jobs and economic value in producing countries.
Mr Banga also laid out a vision on Friday for how the World Bank should operate, focusing primarily on creating jobs, expanding economic opportunity and connecting private capital to developing nations that need investment.
Addressing the plenary session at the annual meetings, Mr Banga said the current economic climate of tightening fiscal space, rising debt and global conflicts had made the work challenging – but not impossible.
“Those are the twin challenges we have been working to address: making scarce resources go further, while helping countries create jobs at scale. They must be addressed together,” he said in prepared remarks. “The future of development will depend on bringing public finance, private investment, philanthropy and technology together around what each country needs. The partnership – and mix – should evolve as countries do.”
He also spoke of the World Bank’s new initiative to focus on “small AI” – bespoke artificial intelligence-enabled applications that do not rely on the most advanced and expensive version of the technology, but can provide solutions for people in the developing world.
“Practical, or ‘small’, AI can help a farmer improve yields, a teacher tailor instruction, a health worker make better-informed decisions, or an entrepreneur reach new customers,” Mr Banga added.
Separately, Mr Warsh said the Fed needed to consider financial stability risks as it assesses the outlook for the US economy, while declining to offer indications about its next interest-rate decision. Speaking at the annual meetings, heh said he did not “prejudge” policy decisions before the Fed’s meetings from October 27 to 28, when markets expect interest rates to remain unchanged.
The Fed raised rates in September and made it clear that it intended to deliver price stability and withdraw some monetary policy accommodation, he said.
“I don't prejudge meetings. I don't believe in saying now what I might do at the meetings that we have in the balance of this year,” Mr Warsh said.
He said the Fed must continually bolster its credibility to get monetary policy right, adding that that includes the supervision and operations side of the central bank. He also expressed optimism about AI and its potential to transform the real economy, although he said the technology’s near-term impact on employment remained uncertain.
Mr Warsh also said he was surprised by the global resilience and how many G20 member states are “hanging in there” amid the geopolitical shocks of recent months, as most central banks tightened monetary policy to deal with inflation.
“We're seeing common things and we're taking action and I view that as a positive development,” Mr Warsh said. “I believe, optimistically, you might think naively, at least in the US, we're going to come out of this stronger with a more durable economy, more capable of leading the world on economic growth.”
With reporting from Reuters and AFP