International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Palace of Nations - UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Photo: Trabantos/ Shutterstock

Rights

News

UN Human Rights Council debt roundtable concludes debt crisis is a human rights crisis

UN Human Rights Council’s Seventh Intersessional Meeting calls for states to use FfD4 to agree reforms that enable states to deliver on their human rights obligations.

15 April 2025

Knowledge

Background

Bretton Woods Project Annual Report 2024

In 2024 BWP continued to support global civil society in pushing for transformative change, advocating for a multilateral system that is democratic, inclusive, transparent, accountable and responsive to people, especially the poorest and most vulnerable.

25 February 2025 | Annual report (BWP)

Finance

News

FfD4 is a feminist issue

FfD4 civil society feminist workstream calls for gender and race equality, human rights and systemic change in the international financial architecture, while groups plan strategic convening in Morocco.

15 April 2025

Finance

News

BWIs use frozen Russian assets as part of $50 billion support to Ukraine

BWIs engineer creative ways to provide financial support to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets as back up, in contrast to lack of support for debt-stricken African countries.

12 December 2024

Knowledge

Background

Recommended resources on the World Bank and the IMF 2024

BWP's collection of recommended reports, briefings, CSO letters and other resources published on the World Bank and the IMF in the past year .

12 February 2025
illustration of the Bretton Woods Observer winter 2024, presenting the World Bank globe sitting on a hidden pile of gold looking at the Wall Street Bull (which represents the financial sector)

Environment

Analysis

COP29 sees MDBs climate finance take centre stage, as civil society brands new climate finance goal a ‘betrayal’

Rich countries agree to provide a paltry $300 billion in public finance by 2035 including funds channelled through MDBs, as Small Island States and Least Developed Countries stage walkout.

12 December 2024
Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and Communications Department Director Julie Kozack field questions at the Civil Society Townhall during the 2024 Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC, on October 21, 2024. Credit: IMF Photo/Alyssa Schukar

Conditionality

Analysis

Who’s afraid of the grassroots? IMF policymaking in the era of social discontent

IMF proposes a grassroots communication strategy to convince the public of the need for further austerity measures as publications reveal fear that social unrest will make reforms ‘unimplementable’.

12 December 2024
2024 IMF/World Bank Group Annual Meetings. Credit: Simone McCourtie / Flickr.

Finance

News

IMF’s PRGT review places the burden of financing the program on low-income countries

As the IMF increases cost of lending for LICs by introducing a tiered interest mechanism to the PRGT, CSOs and V20 Group call instead for an SDR interest rate cap to reduce the cost of lending and for sale of gold reserves to address the funding gap.

12 December 2024

Finance

News

UN's Fourth Financing for Development Conference takes place at key moment for international financial architecture reform

Civil society Financing for Development (FfD) Mechanism calls for FfD4 conference to deliver meaningful reform and a true path towards democratic multilateralism.

12 December 2024

IFI governance

Analysis

Annual Meetings 2024 Wrap-up - Don’t look back: BWIs plough down path of reforms lacking evidence and willingness to engage with broader UN-led reform processes

The 2024 World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings, taking place in the context of the institutions’ 80th anniversary, offered little substantive reform despite multiple ongoing organisational processes and reviews.

30 October 2024

IFI governance

Analysis

G20 communiqué analysis Annual Meetings 2024: progress on tax and inequality obscures Group's wider failures

At the 25th anniversary of the Group’s Finance Track, the G20 communiqué’s robust language on the taxation of billionaires, including encouraging “constructive discussions” about the UN Tax Conference was contrasted by much more cautious language on MDB reform, climate finance, debt and Special Drawing Rights.

29 October 2024

IFI governance

Analysis

G24 communiqué analysis Annual Meetings 2024: calls for robust multilateral response to mounting risk and global crises

G24 calls for robust multilateral response to debt, development and climate crises, arguing the IMF and World Bank must continue reform in order to maintain legitimacy and fulfil their mandate.

29 October 2024