The US Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, plans to call for reform of the great world economic institutions on Wednesday, estimating that the war in Ukraine demonstrates the need to evolve organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“We must modernize our existing institutions – the IMF and the multilateral development banks – so that they are adopted in the 21st century, where the challenges and risks are increasingly global,” he plans to declare during a conference organized by the Atlantic Council, American think tank.

Yellen is due to express her vision for the world economy in the context of the Ukrainian conflict, a week before finance ministers and central bankers come to Washington for the IMF and World Bank spring meetings.

“Some will perhaps say that this is not the time to see things big,” the minister plans to acknowledge. “But I think now is a good time to fix the flaws in our international financial system, which bring us problems in real time.”

The United States decreed several series of economic and financial sanctions against Russia, in particular the freezing of assets and prohibition of transactions against large Russian banks.

These measures should force “the Kremlin to choose between supporting its economy and financing the continuation of (Vladimir) Putin’s brutal war,” Yellen will recall.

In his speech, he plans to lambast countries and companies that have not severed trade ties with Russia, without mentioning the country by name. China and India, in particular, remain partners with Moscow.

Perhaps these countries hope to “fill the void left by others by preserving their relations with Russia. That kind of motivation doesn’t hold up in the long run,” he will say.

Beyond the situation in Ukraine, the week’s meetings will focus on delivering vaccines, fighting global warming and supporting low-income countries, Yellen added.

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