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International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)

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
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
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

Land

News

World Bank goes full steam ahead on agribusiness, but new CAFOD report highlights gendered harms of Bank's approach

Under President Banga, the World Bank is going full steam ahead on agribusiness financing with a $9 billion annual commitment by 2030, but a CAFOD report highlights harmful gendered impacts of current approach to commercialising farming.

12 December 2024

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
October 25, 2024 - Washington, D.C. | Participants of the 2024 IMF/World Bank Group Annual Meetings’ Development Committee: Mohamed bin Hadi Al Hussaini, Ajay Banga, Kristalina Georgieva, and Mercy Tembon. Photo: Simone McCourtie / World Bank (via Flickr).

IFI governance

Analysis

Development Committee chair’s statement analysis Annual Meetings 2024: compounding crises expose the World Bank’s role in structural failures but limit scope for reform

Despite Development Committee’s call for increased development impact amidst compounding crises, persistent geopolitical fragmentation constrains the critical reforms needed to address structural failures.

29 October 2024
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Other news

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".

5 April 2023

Infrastructure

News

New US treasury guidance introduces limits for US support for fossil fuels at World Bank

Civil society voices concern about continued support for fossil gas under the policy.

22 September 2021

IFI governance

Background

Greening whole economies? Unpacking World Bank plans for Paris alignment by July 2023

Notes from a Civil Society Policy Forum event on 14 October titled "Greening whole economies? Unpacking World Bank plans for Paris alignment by July 2023."

14 October 2022 | Minutes

IFI governance

Background

The World Bank’s Development Policy Financing: implications for a just, green and feminist recovery

Notes from the Civil Society Policy Forum session on 29 September on the implications and shortcomings of how Development Policy Financing nudges countries towards policy reforms.

19 October 2021 | Minutes

Social services

Background

World Bank Group’s ‘Maximizing Finance for Development’ in times of Covid-19

Notes from the virtual Civil Society Policy Forum at the 2020 World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings 5 October session on the World Bank's 'Maximizing Finance for Development' and the Covid-19 response.

5 October 2020 | Minutes

Finance

Background

Covid-19 and debt: Going beyond debt suspension towards a systemic response to debt crises

Notes from the virtual Civil Society Policy Forum 28 September Session at the IMF and World Bank 2020 Annual Meetings on Covid-19 and debt.

28 September 2020 | Minutes

Accountability

News

Civil society urges US Congress to hold IFC accountable before approving capital increase

CSOs express concerns at congressional hearing about pending IFC capital increase.

12 December 2019

Accountability

News

IFC capital increase not a priority for US Congress

US Congress yet to approve World Bank’s proposed capital increase agreed in 2018.

30 July 2019
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