By David Lawder and Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund expects at least a dozen countries to seek new loan programs to cope with surging energy prices and supply chain disruptions caused by the Middle East war,

Jordanian economy has continued to demonstrate resilience, supported by the government's commitment to prudent macroeconomic policies

U. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday reaffirmed his support for a long-delayed revamp of the International Monetary Fund's quota resources and called on the World Bank to move quickly to ‌support projects to develop critical minerals to diversify supplies away from China.

Buy: iShares J.P. Morgan EM Bond (EMB) and selectively add to frontier/SSA sovereigns with IMF programs (e.g., Ghana bonds where IMF support is likely). Rationale: IMF expects $20–50B of new/expanded financing as energy shock strains budgets;

By David Lawder WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund cut its growth outlook on Tuesday due to Middle East war-driven energy price spikes but said the world was already drifting toward a more adverse scenario with much-weaker growth as Strait of Hormuz shipping disruptions continue.

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Wednesday it had reached an agreement with the highly indebted Argentine government as it reviews the country's financial reforms, paving the way for a $1 billion dollar disbursement.

The ministry noted that the IMF raised its nominal GDP growth forecasts for South Korea to 4.2 percent for 2025 from the previous forecast of 2.1 percent and to 4.7 percent for 2026 from 2.1 percent. The revised estimates reflect the positive effects of the Seoul government's performance-based and strategic fiscal management, the ministry said.