Other

IFI governance

Analysis

Spring Meetings 2025 Wrap-up: Don’t look up! Bank and Fund leadership self-censors on climate change and gender issues, as US tariffs rock global economic outlook

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicates US will stay in the Bank and Fund, claiming “America First does not mean America alone,” as tariffs and rising debt vulnerabilities prompt gloomy forecast.

30 April 2025
President Ramaphosa officiate first meeting of G20 Foreign Ministers under South African Presidency. Photo: Government of South Africa/ Flickr

IFI governance

Analysis

G20 press conference and media statement analysis Spring Meetings 2025: lack of Chair's statement yet more evidence of challenges to global consensus

The South African G20 Presidency failed to issue a communiqué and opted not to issue a Chair’s statement at the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings as the US administration’s explicit hostility to multilateralism significantly decreases the potential for consensus across all multilateral fora.

30 April 2025
Barbados finance minister Ryan Straughn chairs V20's ministerial session on 24 April, during the 2025 World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings in Washington DC. Photo: CVF/V20.

IFI governance

Analysis

V20 communiqué analysis Spring Meetings 2025: amid attacks on climate action, climate vulnerable countries once again highlight urgent need to step back from the brink

Faced with deafening silence from Bank and Fund leadership on climate issues at the Spring Meetings, climate vulnerable countries demand urgent changes to global financial architecture.

30 April 2025

IFI governance

Analysis

Spring Meetings 2025 Preamble: geopolitical turmoil further muddies path of BWI reform and multilateral cooperation

As the World Bank and IMF prepare for the 2025 Spring Meetings, the US executive order reviewing its participation in global institutions has heightened long-standing concerns about the direction of the Bretton Woods system – with civil society turning to FfD4 to reimagine the future of multilateralism.

17 April 2025
Illustration showing the World Bank, the IMF and the EU and USA flags watering down the spirit of Monterrey from the walls of Seville old city.

Finance

Analysis

Civil society calls for FfD4 to revive 'spirit of Monterrey' and reassert UN's role in global economic governance

The role of Bretton Woods Institutions remains a key point of contention, amidst their stark governance deficits.

15 April 2025
Ethiopia Minister of Finance at the Horn of Africa Initiative Ministerial meeting, Brussels December 2023. Photo: Christophe Licoppe/ European Union/Wikimedia

Finance

News

Private lenders’ resistance to Ethiopia's debt relief highlights urgent need for debt architecture reform

Ethiopia becomes the latest victim of the dysfunctional Common Framework, as private lenders continue to hold out on its debt restructuring with significant human rights, social and economic consequences.

15 April 2025
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
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
The World Bank's interactive new Corporate Scorecard on display at the 2024 World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings in Washington DC. Credit: Paul Blake/ World Bank.

Accountability

Analysis

Missing in action: accountability is noticeably absent from the World Bank Group’s new Corporate Scorecard

The Corporate Scorecard’s accountability gap is symptomatic of a broader failure on the part of the WBG to fully internalise, integrate and learn from the work of its accountability mechanisms.

12 December 2024 | At Issue

IFI governance

News

New report debunks claims that inadequate MDB transparency results from private sector concerns

Amid underwhelming private capital mobilisation, new report underscores poor state of transparency and disclosure of private sector finance by multilateral development banks and development finance institutions.

12 December 2024

Finance

News

IDA21 cobbles together $100 billion replenishment in context of wider aid cuts

Amid concerns about the policy package and in the face of global crises, IDA's 21st replenishment showed difficulty of mobilising donor finance amid elections and geopolitical tensions.

12 December 2024

Environment

News

Trump election may add pressure to reverse World Bank’s prohibition on support for nuclear power

Donald Trump’s election may result in a revision of World Bank’s long-standing prohibition of support to nuclear power.

12 December 2024