Gill replaces Carmen Reinhart as she returns to Harvard after a two-year public service leave from the institution.
International
Social services
News
World Bank’s IFC ends funding for fee-paying primary and secondary schools
Independent Evaluation Group report highlighted private sector education provision can exacerbate inequality and undermine the public sector school system.
Land
Analysis
World Bank and IMF’s response to global food crisis misses mark, as financial speculation drives food prices to historic highs
Action plan launched by Bretton Woods Institutions and other IFIs ignores role of corporatisation of agriculture in contributing to current crisis.
Finance
Analysis
A new Bretton Woods for whom? Civil society calls for democratisation of global governance
As geopolitical tensions rise amidst worsening global economic conditions, civil society demands the democratisation of a world economic order away from the established Global North and elite capitalist hegemony.
Accountability
Commentary
The IMF is changing and needs an independent ombudsman
The Fund's expansion of its work into the macro-stability challenges posed by pandemics, climate change, gender discrimination and inequality increases the risks that it may negatively impact communities and individuals.
Accountability
Analysis
Why the IFC can’t afford to squander this opportunity to get remedy right
The IFC is the only DFI that has committed to creating a remedy framework. The basic requirements of a rights-based remedy framework are already known.
Environment
News
Resilience and Sustainability Trust: Will “qualifying reforms” bring long-overdue institutional shift?
Problematic track record on climate and fossil fuel finance means IMF-World Bank collaboration on the Resilience and Sustainability Trust risks repetition of failed policies.
Finance
News
Highly indebted countries face further cuts to public spending to service debts, as IMF austerity bites
Debt Justice's new report highlights urgent need for international debt workout mechanisms, as countries are forced to prioritise debt payments.
Social services
News
World Bank’s commitment to private sector-led development casts doubt on effectiveness of new Pandemic Preparedness Fund
The World Bank’s proposal to establish a fund for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response raises questions about the Bank’s support for private sector healthcare at the expense of public provision.
Gender
News
World Bank's new gender strategy: Concerns about approach to social protection and gender-blind macroeconomic reforms remain
With the World Bank’s current gender strategy set to expire next year, care and social protection emerge as a possible focus, but CSOs remain skeptical that Bank's private sector-led approach will deliver on women's rights.
Land
News
IFC approves loan to industrial agriculture producer in Brazil despite pleas for protection of sensitive grassland biome
World Bank’s IFC $200 loan for large-scale agricultural production in Brazil disregards serious human rights and environmental concerns, despite calls by 200 civil society organisations globally
Trade
Background
What is the World Bank’s International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)?
New Inside the Institutions looks at the World Bank’s International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the main forum for Investor-to-State Dispute Settlements.
Featured briefings
6 April 2023
World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings 2023
5 April 2023
The IMF at the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: The need for governance reform
As the world celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is time the IMF’s shareholders use the opportunities provided by the anniversary and growing calls for reforms to the international financial architecture to redesign the IMF’s governance structures and programmes to ensure they are consistent with the commitments outlined in 1948 and with international human rights law.
5 April 2023
The global financial architecture and the international debt crisis: An urgent call for reform
Influence of unreformed international financial institutions and creditor interests in debt solutions in low- and middle-income countries plagued by delay and ineffective when undertaken.