This factsheet explains how the International Finance Corporation (IFC) operates, how development impact is measured, and the latest trends in investments by sector, region and instrument.
What is the IFC?
The IFC is the private sector lending arm of the World
Bank.
Its mission is to reduce global poverty and promote shared prosperity by providing direct investments and advisory services to the private sector, promoting open and competitive markets and mobilising additional financial resources for private sector initiatives. The IFC aims to “generate productive jobs and deliver essential services to the poor and the vulnerable.”
The IFC coordinates its activities with the other institutions of the World Bank Group but is legally and financially independent. The IFC’s 184 member countries oversee the use and management of resources through a Board of Governors and a Board of Directors. Each country appoints a governor and one alternate. The Board of Governors delegates most powers to a board of 25 directors. In 2013 the World Bank Group adopted a new Group-wide strategy, as well as merging a
number of back-office functions previously organised independently by the four main arms of the Bank Group. In particular, the new strategy envisions greater collaboration between the IFC and other arms of the Bank, including IFC participation in setting Country Partnership Frameworks, which will become the main framework agreements between the Bank and borrowing countries from
July 2014.2 It is not yet known how this will operationally affect the IFC.
The factsheet was published alongside the report Private finance for development unravelled:
Assessing how Development Finance Institutions work