Scott Bessent's growth plans aren't enough to tame surging deficit and debt pile, IMF chief says

BANGKOK — The head of the International Monetary Fund has urged Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to trim the deficit, warning that his plan to lean on growth to tame U.S. Government debt isn't sufficient. "Growth of course helps, but it cannot deliver fast enough the necessary adjustments," Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said at a panel Wednesday at the IMF-World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok. "Some [fiscal] measures would be necessary." Georgieva said Bessent recognizes that federal deficits and overall debt have grown "too high," and that measures to improve the budget balance and reduce the debt are necessary. But "the authorities very much rely on strong growth in the United States" to bring them down, she said.