Uneven votes shares and global power imbalances shape the IMF voting shares, as it prepares to shake up its voting quotas
Voting rights
IFI governance
News
Developing countries seek new path for Fund governance reform
2010 agreement to reform IMF voting shares in favour of developing countries flounders as IMF governance reforms blocked by US Congress, again. Developing countries expressed anger and raised concerns about the Fund’s ability to deal credibly and effectively with new and ongoing financial crises.
Conditionality
Analysis
IMF “rebuked” over role in Troika and its lending to Greece, Ireland and Portugal
IMF’s Independent Evaluation Office has found the Fund’s 2010/2011 Troika lending to Greece, Ireland and Portugal fell short in terms of surveillance, design, implementation and decision making, and described controversial decisions as appearing “rubber-stamped”.
IFI governance
Background
IMF & World Bank decision-making and governance
This Inside the Institutions examines the recent and ongoing reforms at the IMF and World Bank, and places them in context of existing structures and processes.
IFI governance
Analysis
IMF governance: one step forward, one step back
Reform to the IMF’s voting shares shifts some power to emerging countries, but the institution’s leadership selection process remains opaque and undemocratic.
IFI governance
News
Developing countries seek to bypass stalled IMF and World Bank reform, risking US veto
Reforms to World Bank and IMF voting shares continue to stall, leaving developing countries with no greater say in how they are run.
IFI governance
Analysis
Impasse at the IMF
This briefing shows that multilateral governance is at risk if long-overdue IMF quota and board reforms are not ratified.
IFI governance
News
US Congressional legislation threatens IMF and World Bank plans
US legislature’s spending bill blocks IMF governance reform, insists the World Bank pay reparations to communities that suffer human rights abuses, and bans US support for large dams or extractive projects in tropical forests.
Finance
Analysis
The IFIs in 2013: year in review
The Bretton Woods Project review of the most important developments at the World Bank and IMF in 2013.
IFI governance
News
Calls for IMF quota reform implementation
Countries, including Russia and India, have continued to express concerns over the failure to complete the 2010 IMF quota reform.
Featured briefings
6 December 2018
The Bretton Woods Observer: Winter 2018
3 October 2018
The Bretton Woods Observer: World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings 2018
28 September 2018
The World Bank's role in crafting a neoliberal hegemony with a feminist face
The World Bank’s recent gender equality approach constitutes an attempt at establishing a consensus over the regulation of the economy.