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International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)

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

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
World Bank President Ajay Banga, speaks at an event titled Transforming Challenge into Action: Expanding Health Coverage for All, at the WBG & IMF Spring Meetings, 18 April 2024, Washington DC. Credit: Grant Ellis / World Bank

IFI governance

Analysis

Annual Meetings 2024 Preamble: BWIs’ management and key shareholders stand in the way of transformative governance reforms despite ‘evolution’ rhetoric

Unconvincing World Bank Evolution Roadmap reforms and IMF’s struggle to mainstream climate and gender symptomatic of wider malaise.

17 October 2024
World Bank cartoon lost in the middle of a forest

IFI governance

Analysis

New World Bank Corporate Scorecard: overlooking client priorities and ignoring development impact

The World Bank’s new Corporate Scorecard misses the forest for the trees as it lacks an indicator to measure the Bank’s contribution to economic transformation, a cornerstone of its development mandate.

16 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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