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.
G20
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Other news
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.
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.
Finance
News
A different ‘evolution roadmap’: Havana conference calls for changes in world order hierarchy
As IMF and World Bank tinker at margins, 50 policymakers, diplomats and academics from over 26 countries issue Havana Declaration calling for an assertion of Southern power and the building of a new "planetary bloc".
Finance
News
Chad gets debt rescheduling, not relief, and is left dependent on oil revenues
Chad has reached an agreement to restructure its nearly $3 billion of external debt, unlocking IMF financing, but the deal has been criticised for failing to reduce the country’s overall debt burden.
Finance
Analysis
Our world in 2020
As the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated and helped reveal pre-existing injustices and structural flaws in the global economy - and the IMF and World Bank proved unable to reverse course on broke policy prescriptions - calls for reforming the international financial and development architecture gained strength.
Finance
Background
Taxing to Develop: International Taxation Challenges for Africa
Notes from the IMF and World Bank 2019 Spring Meetings official session on 14 April on international taxation challenges in Africa.
Finance
News
Argentina increases offer to bondholders after IMF claims “room for improvement”
Private creditors provided with IMF backing in Argentina negotiations as country enters into default.
Infrastructure
Background
Sustainable Infrastructure: Aligning with Rights and the SDGs
Notes from the Civil Society Policy Forum event on 10 April, which looked at sustainable infrastructure from fiscal, rights and climate lenses.