IMF and World Bank policies and programmes work in tandem to expand and deepen financialisation, exacerbating the inequality crisis and harming human rights, financial stability and democratic governance
IBRD
Environment
News
World Bank accused of being ‘ongoing underperformer’ at COP26, as key Bank shareholders commit to fossil-fuel finance phaseout
UN official and civil society criticise World Bank and other MDBs for lack of ambition at COP26.
IFI governance
Analysis
Development Committee communiqué analysis - Annual Meetings 2021
The Development Committee communiqué was published on 15 October. It acknowledged an uneven and uncertain path to recovery, while it kept silent on the need for a TRIPS waiver of the Covid-19 vaccines and said little about the IMF’s new $650 billion allocation of SDRs.
IFI governance
Analysis
Annual Meetings Wrap-up: despite urgent climate and development needs, geopolitics and deference to private finance rule the day
Doing Business scandal once again highlights that geopolitical wrangling is key driving force behind Bretton Woods Institutions’ governance structure and policy prescriptions.
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.
IFI governance
Analysis
G24 communiqué analysis - Annual Meetings 2021
G24 finance ministers called for urgent measures to arrest the unequal recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Environment
Analysis
World Bank’s plans for Indonesia: Delayed action on climate and continued coal and gas support
Indonesian civil society have raised concerns that the World Bank is promoting gas and supporting further coal expansion in its new Country Partnership Framework.
Environment
News
World Bank’s new Climate Change Action Plan fails to deliver much-needed transformative agenda
Plan lacks detail in key areas, including concrete commitments to end fossil fuels support.
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.
Rights
Analysis
Latin American Indigenous Peoples call on World Bank to safeguard their rights
Latin American Indigenous Peoples call on the World Bank to safeguard their rights and ensure its programmes are based on their own proposals.
IFI governance
Analysis
Biden, the Bank and IMF: A break with ‘America first’ or its continued pursuit through multilateral means?
The world awaits to see whether Trump’s defeat will result in the end of the 'America First' approach and a democratisation of the IMF and World Bank and the multilateral system.
IFI governance
Analysis
Development Committee communiqué analysis – Annual Meetings 2020
Analysis of the Development Committee communiqué published on 16 October from the 2020 World Bank and IMF virtual Annual Meetings.
Featured briefings
14 April 2022
World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings 2022
6 April 2022
The Bretton Woods Observer: Spring 2022
6 April 2022
How IMF and World Bank support for financialisation undermines human rights
IMF and World Bank policies and programmes work in tandem to expand and deepen financialisation, exacerbating the inequality crisis and harming human rights, financial stability and democratic governance