The meetings, held outside Washington for the first time in three years, come as the US-Israel war on Iran enters its eighth month. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told Reuters that 18,000 people had registered to attend, 4,000 more than the last off-site meetings in Morocco in October 2023.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will be notably absent. He has dispatched two senior officials in his stead while handling "domestic engagements", a US official said. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Kevin Warsh will attend and is slated to take part in a public event with Georgieva on October 16. Several other finance ministers are also staying home because of domestic budget and election duties, but most central bankers will attend, Georgieva said.
Bessent's decision to skip the gathering and the Group of 20 meetings, which the US leads this year, may frustrate counterparts amid tensions over the Iran war, Ukraine's battle against Russia's invasion and US sanctions on the International Criminal Court.
The Group of Seven has agreed to release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil from emergency reserves under pressure from US President Donald Trump, who is keen to see lower petrol prices before November elections. Trump has also announced a deal with Russia to provide more diesel to global markets and a temporary waiver of US sanctions, a move swiftly criticised by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
More than one billion barrels of oil have been released, mainly from onshore commercial inventories, since the start of the war on February 28. Industry executives say the amount of oil in storage that is accessible to the global market is running low, making the market more fragile and fuelling pressure on prices. The IMF has signalled little change in its forecast.