Bretton Woods
Update 73
The IMF and World Bank: Aiding and abetting inequality in Asia
As inequality in Asia continues to deepen, civil society renews calls for IMF and World Bank to be held accountable for exacerbating inequality.
World Bank rolls out the carpet for “troubled megaprojects” and PPPs
The World Bank and other multilateral development banks continue to push for public-private partnerships for infrastructure projects, despite concerns of debt risks and lack of transparency.
As World Bank signals end of extraction finance, CSOs call for end to its other fossil fuel funding
Despite World Bank’s One Planet Summit announcement that it will stop funding oil and gas extraction after 2019, it still has much to do to fully decarbonise its lending portfolio.
G20 debt proposal continues to favour creditors
New common framework for debt relief announced at G20 Leaders’ Summit maintains prominent role of IMF and fails to include World Bank debt relief.
Civil society still waiting for ‘IMF Spring’ to blossom
Civil society was out in full force during annual meetings challenging the IMF’s claims that it is reducing economic and gender inequality.
Banga’s decision to join Board of Peace raises questions about World Bank’s commitment to multilateralism
Bank’s role as trustee for Board of Peace’s Gaza Reconstruction and Development Fund, and Banga’s involvement in board, condemned by civil society.
The political cost of IMF programmes
As Jordan is engulfed in social unrest and political upheaval, questions are raised around the relationship between IMF conditionality and trends in instability.
Here we go again: Surprise IMF leadership change litmus test for its legitimacy
Lagarde resignation kicks-off another leadership race overshadowed by gentleman’s agreement.
Opportunity lost? IMF approach to Special Drawing Rights channelling risks wasting golden chance
Civil society groups argue that IMF must be far more ambitious in its plans for SDRs to be channelled to countries in need.
G20 review calls for increased MDB lending as World Bank ignores urgent need for policy changes
G20 independent review calls for increased lending by multilateral development banks to address multiple crises, but lack of reform in World Bank crises response framework raises concerns about how it would use additional resources.
A proposal for Ajay: No evolution without remedy
While World Bank President declares the benefits of a “bigger and better” Bank, the scandal of alleged child sexual abuse and cover up relating to IFC investments in Bridge Academies demonstrates the urgent need for the Bank to establish a robust remedy framework.
Behind the fumes: the dirty truth behind the World Bank’s commitments on climate change
New report provides evidence that IFC investments in financial intermediaries (FIs) support the construction of coal power plants in contradiction to World Bank policy and IFC statements that FI lending is ring-fenced and does not support coal.
World Bank and IMF influence casts shadow over South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Partnership
World Bank’s support for fossil fuel projects, including problem-riddled Medupi coal power station, leaves its reputation in tatters with South African civil society.
Throwing evidence to the wind? The World Bank continues pushing PPPs
The World Bank continues its strong marketing push for PPPs, despite concerns raised by IMF, IEG, civil society and the Bank’s own publications.
Annual Meetings 2025 Wrap-up: IMF and World Bank declare uncertainty the “new normal” amid spectacle showcasing US and private capital interests
Annual Meetings showcased the BWIs’ efforts to prove their loyalty to the current US administration and prioritise private capital, even as multilateralism erodes and civil society space shrinks.
IMF and World Bank complicit in ‘austerity as new normal’, despite availability of alternatives
UN organisations build consensus on need to expand fiscal space, as IMF and World Bank continue to push austerity.
World Bank gender strategy risks undermining new human rights language with continued private sector bias
World Bank’s gender draft strategy for 2024-2030 steps up to name gender a human rights issue but fails to address barriers perpetuated by Bank’s macroeconomic model, while civil society warns of need to move away from Bank’s Maximising Finance for Development model as austerity sweeps the globe.
IFC 3.0: superficial upgrades, same problems?
As the IFC sets out a new strategy, CAO and CSO reports have raised further criticism over its investment in financial intermediaries, and a new law suit challenges its immunity.
IMF in Greece: a “slush fund” for “its political masters”
As Greece agrees a loan extension which excludes an IMF contribution, commentators condemn the impact of IMF’s previous loan conditionalities on the Greek economy.
World Bank’s vision of work leaves it isolated from the international community
World Bank’s vision of the changing nature of work clashes with the feminist community, civil society, trade unions and international organisations.
World Bank support for Covid-19 vaccination fails to ensure equitable access
World Bank’s Covid-19 vaccination programme contributes to global response but fails to ensure free access to vaccines and healthcare during the pandemic.
Democratic deficit: The IMF, Ecuador, and central bank independence
IMF’s continued push for central bank independence criticised as undemocratic, unequal and for curtailing countries’ capacity to respond to the pandemic.
As Jubilee year draws to a close, debt crisis remains unresolved
The current debt architecture continues to prioritise creditors over people as Jubilee-inspired movements push for genuine cancellation, fair restructuring and enforceable rules to rebalance global economic power.
Tout change et rien change pas: Global power and IMF leadership
The present IMF leadership ‘contest’ makes a mockery of the institution’s multilateral character and further diminishes its legitimacy.
The IMF gender strategy: Will it lead to real change for women’s rights?
While the strategy’s first concept note outlines an ambitious vision to mainstream gender across the Fund’s core operations, civil society emphasises that a deeper analysis of on the effects of Fund-endorsed policies on women’s rights is still missing.
The IMF’s role in the Ebola outbreak
IMF conditionalities attached to loans to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea drained health services, damaging countries’ ability to handle the recent Ebola crisis.
Spring Meetings 2026 Wrap-up: America First exacerbates global instability as war on Iran leads to latest economic shock
The Spring Meetings offered a chilling response to the persisting strains of global instability and multilateralism in crisis.
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.
World Bank board oversight mechanisms derailed
World Bank management’s proposal for a Multiphase Programmatic Approach erodes executive board oversight and suffers from lack of civil society consultation.
COVID-19 crisis highlights urgency of reconsidering World Bank’s MFD approach
Looming financial crisis has roots in Bank’s privatisation, financialisation and deregulation agenda.
Development to the rescue of finance – the Bank’s ‘cascade’ approach
World Bank unveils cascade concept that privileges private over public finance. De-risking in order to attract private sector investments threatens to shift risks to public sector and result in third wave of privatisation.
Death of Doing Business Report greatly exaggerated as World Bank announces rebranding plans
World Bank announces relaunch of Doing Business Report in approximately two years.
IFC and MIGA must ‘walk the accountability walk’ on the road mapped by independent review
Implementation in full of the independent review of IFC, MIGA and CAO is essential if institutions are to meet persistent accountability and remedy gaps.
World Bank Group strategy: who benefits?
A new World Bank Group strategy will be signed off at the 2013 annual meetings. It prioritises greater use of the private sector and “transformational engagements”, but criticisms continue over the Bank’s desire to tell countries what to do.
The IMF and World Bank-led Covid-19 recovery: ‘Building back better’ or locking in broken policies?
Early evidence suggests IMF programmes are maintaining long-term fiscal consolidation targets, while World Bank further continues Maximizing Finance for Development narrative amidst Covid-19 crisis.
Civil society calls for World Bank to reroute ‘Evolution Roadmap’ away from Cascade
Civil society questions the proposed expansion of the Cascade approach, which has failed to deliver the ‘trillions’ promised.
Undemocratic gentleman’s agreement will further challenge next IMF managing director
EU countries’ backing of Kristalina Georgieva for a second term as IMF Managing Director will likely set in motion the next steps towards her reappointment, representing another lost opportunity to reform IMF governance.
Will the World Bank be a partner for a just energy transition in developing countries?
As renewable energy finance shifts from China to the World Bank, whether the Bank can be a partner for a just energy transition depends on three areas: strong environmental and social oversight, avoiding a new resource curse in minerals and debt relief during crises.
UK’s largest ethical bank won’t touch World Bank private sector bonds
Leading development and environment NGOs, including Christian Aid and Friends of the Earth, have today welcomed the commitment by The Co-operative Bank to hold no investments in the World Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC). It is understood that the Co-operative Bank had become increasingly concerned about the IFC’s commitment to fossil…
Britain as a global financial superpower: The UK’s 2027 G20 Presidency is a historic opportunity to fix the system
UK’s 2027 G20 Presidency offers a rare chance to fix systemic imbalances at little cost.
Committee questions independence of IMF’s evaluation arm
In an evaluation of the IMF Independent Evaluation Office’s first five years of work, an external committee concluded that the IMF board and management may have undue influence on the body and that IMF management may not be appropriately implementing the body’s recommendations when they are endorsed by the board.
Knowledge Bank-rupted: Evaluation says key World Bank research ‘not remotely reliable’
An evaluation by a panel of self-described ‘academic superstars’ has cast doubt over the independence and reliability of World Bank research.
Memorandum by the Bretton Woods Project for the UK Treasury Committee
It is widely accepted that global imbalances were a major contributing factor to the recent global financial crisis. In written evidence submitted to the UK Treasury Committee, we argue that there are four main underlying causes and three areas of major reform needed.
Doing Business not related to growth
The future of “Doing Business” has nothing to do with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim’s opinion of growth (“Stand up for ‘Doing Business'”, The Economist, 25 May). You confuse growth with a set of indicators which many inside and outside the Bank find fundamentally flawed.
Multilateral Development Banks’ unburnable carbon
Bretton Woods Project briefing on MDBs’ fossil fuel investments and exposure to the carbon bubble
Debt sustainability review: Tinkering around the edges while crises loom
Despite making some positive changes, the IMF and World Bank Debt Sustainability Framework review has ignored fundamental issues, as risk of new crises persist.
The World Bank and the globalisation of housing finance
In prioritising capital market expansion, the needs of the lowest income groups are not being effectively addressed through World Bank interventions.
IMF framework on social spending out of step with international standards
Fund publishes social spending strategy, civil society deems outcome too little too late.
Gambling with our lives: Global emergencies expose consequences of decades of IMF and World Bank policies
Market-led policy approaches increasingly used to deal with both climate and health emergencies are failing to protect those most vulnerable.
Tsunami: World Bank and IMF response
Summary of the World Bank and IMF response to the tsunami
World Bank’s failure to disclose details of climate finance accounting opens its claim to be leading green financier to scrutiny
Newly released study by Oxfam finds that the Bank’s claims of climate finance for FY2020 could be off by as much as 40 per cent, or $7 billion, highlighting the urgent need for greater public disclosure.
New IMF gender strategy’s potential to catalyse change undermined by austerity and problematic mission creep
IMF’s new gender mainstreaming strategy makes effort to include civil society demands but falls short of transformative vision as austerity remains Fund’s raison-d’état.
Decolonising the global economic architecture: The prerequisite for a just transition
Global South faces severe structural deficiencies that weaken its economic sovereignty and put it at the mercy of a neo-colonial global financial architecture.
IMF strategic review: Reform or be left behind
The IMF’s strategic review portends changes in its mandate and structure, but critics charge that it does not go far enough.
The lost call for international financial architecture reform in the G20
At the 80th anniversary of the World Bank and IMF, global civil society must maintain pressure on the Brazilian and South African G20 presidencies to ensure the forth Financing for Development Conference in 2025 results in urgently required international financial architecture reform.
New report documents abuses at IFC-funded hospitals, further exposing consequences of the “billions to trillions” approach
Bloomberg investigation adds further evidence of negative consequences for people and governments of IFC’s for-profit healthcare model.
Indonesia to host International Peoples Forum vs the IMF & World Bank
Asian movements together with an international group of networks, movements, campaigns and NGOs will be convening an International Peoples Forum vs the IMF and the World Bank on September 15 to 17 in Batam, Indonesia. The Forum will be a convergence of activities and actions that articulate critiques, express protest and assert alternatives to the…
The potential development implications of enhancing the IMF’s resources
In April 2009, the G20 group of leaders committed $1.1 trillion to combat the financial crisis, with the bulk of this being channelled through the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, this substantial amount of resources may never be provided, and if it is, may not have the intended positive effect on developing countries. Experience so…
Bank accused of neglecting poorest countries
The Bank is under fire for failing to focus on low-income countries in its lending, and concentrating instead on the demands of rich and middle-income countries.
Out of sight, out of mind?
The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) lending has grown enormously over the past decade, with commitments reaching a record $18 billion in the 2010 financial year. At the same time, there has been a significant shift in the way the IFC does business. Increasingly, instead of managing its loans and investments itself, it…
Climate Investment Funds Monitor 4
The Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) are financing instruments designed to pilot low-carbon and climate-resilient development through the multilateral development banks (MDBs). They are comprised of two trust funds – the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF).
The IMF in Egypt: revolution or coming full circle?
The Egyptian government has finally concluded an initial loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following two years of continual negotiations.
An accountability mechanism without teeth?
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank, is under internal scrutiny for two projects in Albania.
BRICS without mortar
On the sidelines of this week’s G20 summit, BRICS nations are expected to reveal details of how their proposed $100 billion alternative to the IMF will operate.
IFC fails to act on human rights abuses in Honduras
IFC accountability mechanism formally links World Bank client to human rights abuses on palm oil project in Honduras, and highlights systemic problems with IFC procedures.
World Bank-IMF spring meetings 2014
Bretton Woods Project coverage of the 2014 spring meetings with links to analysis of the communiqués and notes of key civil society and official meetings.
World Bank support for Haitian mining: far from a gold standard
World Bank support for a draft mining law in Haiti is criticised for lack of stakeholder engagement, as civil society fears that the plan will do little to protect local communities.
A critical juncture for forests: Will the World Bank rise to meet the global challenge?
World Bank is called to take a leadership role in reducing deforestation and promote community forest management, including through its new Forest Action Plan.
World Bank and IMF: Where do they stand on progressive and responsible taxation?
The IMF and the World Bank are increasingly engaged with the challenge of addressing how tax avoidance and evasion affect developing countries, but need to address the role played by multinational enterprises and tax havens in exacerbating inequality and undermining countries’ domestic revenues.
Gender-Just Macroeconomics
BWP publishes booklet on gender-just macroeconomics, a guide to engaging the IMF and World Bank.
Spring Meetings wrap-up 2019: what crisis of multilateralism?
As the world ponders the fate of a beleaguered multilateralism on the 75th anniversary of the Bank and Fund, both fail to act on essential governance reforms and opt to maintain the unjust privilege of the Global North.
The myths and dangers of PRSPs
The myths of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers – that they are nationally owned, pro-poor, and poverty-reducing – should be debunked.
World Bank-IMF spring meetings 2005 report
Reports of official and civil society events in Washington around the spring meetings 2005.
Opportunity lost: World Bank’s Roadmap fails to chart path to better development outcomes
Civil society renews calls for an independent external evaluation of Bank policies ahead of Spring Meetings’ focus on the operationalisation of the Roadmap and a ‘historic’ IDA21 replenishment.
What is the International Finance Corporation (IFC)?
This Inside the Institutions explores the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank Group’s private sector arm. It examines the function of the IFC as a development institution focused solely on private sector solutions to development and considers civil society critiques.
Submission on the World Bank and IFC to DFID’s multilateral aid review
As the UK government reviews its funding and relationships with multilateral organisations, we argue that the World Bank Group’s poor performance, lack of country ownership and accountability, and tendency to ‘mission creep’, require a focus on institutional and policy change at the Bank, and no increase in funding.
Infrastructure as an asset class
A forthcoming report on private equity infrastructure funds by Nicholas Hildyard of NGO The Corner House, More than bricks and mortar, looks at the connections between infrastructure funding and international financial markets, and at the wider political project that infrastructure embodies. In this briefing, Hildyard argues that the transformation of infrastructure into an asset class…
World Bank and climate change
A new Bank report warns about the impacts of climate change, but concerns have been raised about its own track record. While the Bank has increased its renewable energy share, its continued funding of fossil fuels and focus on large scale dams remain controversial.
World Bank social and environmental policies: abandoning responsibility?
The World Bank is planning a controversial major overhaul of its ten social and environmental policies.
World Bank’s rating obsession will negate debt justice
The international financial system’s reliance upon credit ratings – usually based on dubious premises – needs urgent rethinking.
Spring Meetings 2024 Preamble: Bretton Woods Institutions continue to sleepwalk through crises as 80th anniversary of Bretton Woods Conference approaches
At a time when transformative changes on governance and development financing are required, the World Bank and IMF have instead opted for a slimmed down Spring Meetings schedule.
Missing in action: accountability is noticeably absent from the World Bank Group’s new Corporate Scorecard
The Corporate Scorecard’s accountability gap is symptomatic of a broader failure on the part of the WBG to fully internalise, integrate and learn from the work of its accountability mechanisms.
IMF and Milei – partners in Argentina’s neoliberal autocracy
After successive programme failures, new Argentina IMF programme is complicit in Milei government’s contravention of national and human rights laws through its pursuit of autocratic and neoliberal policies.
Global governance and development: Toward equitable burden sharing and agenda-setting
By design, global governance has kept the UN out of financial policy decision-making and norm-setting, leaving Global South countries hostage to the damaging consequences of BWIs neoliberal policies.
The World Bank and energy: time for a catalytic conversion
The World Bank is currently consulting on a new energy strategy, due to be finalised in early 2011. We believe this offers an opportunity for a shift towards a limited but catalytic role for the World Bank in ensuring energy access for the poor and supporting the transition towards a low carbon future. But only…
IMF boardroom crisis: Europeans stubbornly cling to chairs
IMF governance reform was thrown into disarray in August by a fight between the US and Europe over reducing European board seats. Other promised reforms, including to voting shares and leadership selection appear to be going backwards.
World Bank-IMF annual meetings 2010
Analysis, news, and about the events inside and around the World bank/IMF annual meetings 2009. This page is being updated regularly.
The IMF’s new conditionality
While the 2007-2010 crisis offered the International Monetary Fund an unexpected opportunity to demonstrate that it was serious about changing its emergency lending practices, Daniela Gabor argues that in Eastern Europe the Fund ended up pushing unnecessary fiscal austerity and privileging private financial interests.
IMF divided over capital flows management?
IMF research staff have joined external critics in saying that capital account regulation should be more widespread and better coordinated across recipient countries, setting the stage for a contentious final debate on an IMF institutional view on capital account management at end October.
The World Bank and the Green Climate Fund: “an ironic contradiction”?
Since the creation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Green Climate Fund (GCF) in 2010, concerns have grown about the World Bank’s potential role in designing policies to determine the allocation of resources for adaptation and mitigation activities in developing countries.
Climate Investment Funds Monitor 9
Latest update on the World Bank-housed Climate Investment Funds ahead of their June meetings. Covers key trends in projects related to clean technology, resilience to climate change, forests and renewable energy
Lessons from Kenya: Why the World Bank must apply the Indigenous Peoples Policy consistently
The World Bank’s support for a Kenya electricity programme is criticised for failing to comply with its Indigenous Peoples Policy, with implications for the Bank’s future lending and the safeguards review.
Iraq – Bank and Fund in no man’s land
The Spring Meetings of the Bank and Fund in mid-April saw sparring between US and European ministers over when and how the institutions might get involved in Iraqi reconstruction. Discussions there and subsequently have focussed on assessments of the economic and development situation, oversight of oil revenues, debt relief and reconstruction finance.
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.
High-level conference on “trade, growth and poverty”
Organised by the UK Department for International Development, the World Bank, IMF and UNDP, a two-day conference held in London 8-9 December gathered officials, agency representatives and academics to discuss the links between trade, growth and poverty. The objective of the conference was to provide direction on how to integrate trade into national development strategies.
Who will be the next World Bank president?
In an email sent to both his board and news agency Reuters, current Bank president James Wolfensohn said he will retire on 31 May after 10 years in the post. In the note addressed to the dean of the board, Yahya Al-Yahya of Saudi Arabia, Wolfensohn said: “I would like to retire at the end…
Monetary power and sovereign debt crises: The renewed case for a sovereign debt restructuring mechanism
The sovereign debt crises threatening states in the Global South are less about fiscal mismanagement and more about monetary power in the global currency hierarchy.
Bridgetown Initiative calls for new Global Climate Mitigation Trust financed via Special Drawing Rights
IMF’s lending instruments fail to provide swift and large-scale funding for climate transition. The Bridgeton Initiative proposes a new trust backed by $500 billion in SDRs for climate and development.
Coal not yet confined to the “old days” by World Bank Group
Despite the World Bank’s commitment to move away from funding coal, a series of loopholes in its financial intermediary lending remain that will continue to allow finance to support coal power projects.
HIV/AIDS and the World Bank
Summary of the Bank’s response to HIV/AIDS
