At 75, the World Bank and IMF face a crisis of multilateralism in no small part of their own making as failed economic policies have resulted in skepticism of the international order they helped to create.
Global architecture
Finance
Analysis
Falling growth, rising tensions – IMFC communiqué analysis Spring 2019
Analysis of the IMFC communiqué, issued on 13 April, from the 2019 World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings, Washington DC.
Finance
Analysis
Pre-meetings background - winds of change: Will Bank & Fund's 'new' approaches help 'the poorest'?
Bretton Woods Dispatch of the 2017 annual meetings in Washington DC pre-meeting analysis of the key issues for the week.
Finance
News
Sub-Saharan Africa IMFC statement warns against protectionist trends
Sub-Saharan Africa IMFC statement warns against protectionist trends in developed world, and the impacts of capital outflows. The statement calls for tighter financial sector regulation and for third chair for sub-Saharan Africa on the IMF Board.
Finance
Background
Who pays for the Fund and the Bank?
This Inside the Institutions looks at the funds available to the IMF and the World Bank, including the origins of IBRD and IFC resources and an overview of the most recent changes in the IMF and IDA’s funding streams and mechanisms.
IFI governance
Analysis
One man, one vote, one option: World Bank set to coronate Kim for second term
The World Bank is set to reappoint president Jim Yong Kim for another five year term, despite persistent concerns from Bank staff and renewed calls for a merit-based process based on principles of transparency and diversity.
Finance
News
World Bank and AIIB sign joint co-financing agreement
The World Bank has signed a co-financing agreement with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, while former Bank staff join the new institution.
Finance
Background
Global Infrastructure Forum: Perspectives from new development finance institutions
Notes from a side event at the inaugural Global Infrastructure Forum, during the World Bank/IMF 2016 spring meetings, discussing the role of the new development finance institutions, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank.
Finance
Background
Political economy of structural reforms
Notes from an official event at the IMF/World Bank 2016 spring meetings on the political economy of structural reforms.
Finance
Analysis
What is left of the rise of the South?
While the recent reforms to the IMF and World Bank governance reforms and the establishment of new Southern-led IFIs are symbolically important, they are thus far not a rupture with the Western-dominated international financial architecture.
Featured briefings
15 August 2019
The World Bank and gender equality: Development Policy Financing
New BWP briefing offers critical gender analysis of World Bank lending instrument to borrowing countries.
30 July 2019
The Bretton Woods Observer: Summer 2019
30 July 2019
The Bretton Woods Institutions and the second crisis of multilateralism
At 75, the World Bank and IMF face a crisis of multilateralism in no small part of their own making as failed economic policies have resulted in skepticism of the international order they helped to create.