Large middle-income countries jointly initiated alternatives to the World Bank and IMF in March, but advocates are not satisfied with either set of institutions. While challenge to the IMF has been welcomed, civil society actors fear that a new development bank would serve "vested interests" and could lead to "exploitation".
Voting rights
IFI governance
Background
World Bank staff incentives
The World Bank Group's staff incentives and compensation schemes are considered important drivers of the Bank institution's successes and failures.
IFI governance
News
US deadlock stalls IMF governance reform
The IMF governance debate goes beyond the mathematics of voting shares and representation, bringing to the fore critical questions about the Fund's legitimacy.
IFI governance
News
IFC appoints American to general counsel role
The International Finance Corporation appointed US-national Ethiopis Tafara as its vice president and general counsel on 1 April.
IFI governance
News
World Bank's trust fund annual report shows slight decline in number of funds
The Bank published its 2012 annual report for trust funds end January.
IFI governance
News
Pakistani PM's son-in-law new World Bank ED
The Pakistani prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf controversially appointed his son-in-law Raja Azeemul Haq as World Bank executive director (ED) in December replacing current ED Javed Talat whose term had expired.
IFI governance
News
IMF governance "credibility cliff"?
After missing the October deadline to approve the governance reforms agreed in 2010, IMF shareholders have also missed the January 2013 deadline to agree changes in the IMF quota formula.
IFI governance
Background
World Bank Group's sub-national lending
The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC, the Bank's private sector arm) are jointly encouraging sub-national lending to states or provinces, aimed at boosting direct engagement at the state or municipal level.
IFI governance
News
Kim launches first World Bank restructuring salvo
After winning over staff and shareholders in his first six months as World Bank president, Jim Yong Kim launched a publicly unexplained reorganisation of senior management at the Bank in late December, ahead of an expected strategy overhaul and deeper restructuring.
Accountability
News
ICSID billion dollar cases prompt criticism
The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), an arm of
Featured briefings
3 October 2023
Assessing the Bretton Woods Institutions’ legacy
New collection of critical essays by authors from MENA and Sub-Saharan Africa do a retrospective of the BWIs involvement in the region, and the legacy of BWIs-supported unjust and extractionist world economic order.
2 October 2023
Reconceptualising Special Drawing Rights as a tool for development finance
Briefing examines the shortcomings of the current SDRs allocation system and calls to reform SDRs to ensure their targeted, needs-based and equitable distribution.
27 September 2023
Financialisation and human rights in the Middle East and North Africa
This briefing explains how the IMF and World Bank have driven the financialisation of MENA states, and the pervasive negative effects this has had on the region’s societies and economies.