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World Bank Group. Website. worldbank.org. The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. [5]
The World Bank Group has two ambitious goals: ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. Learn more about World Bank data, research, news, and leadership.
WHO WE ARE. With 189 member countries, staff from more than 170 countries, and offices in over 130 locations, the World Bank Group is a unique global partnership: five institutions working for sustainable solutions that reduce poverty and build shared prosperity in developing countries.
- Overview
- Origins
- Organization
- Debt and policy reform
World Bank, international organization affiliated with the United Nations (UN) and designed to finance projects that enhance the economic development of member states. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the bank is the largest source of financial assistance to developing countries. It also provides technical assistance and policy advice and supervi...
Founded in 1944 at the UN Monetary and Financial Conference (commonly known as the Bretton Woods Conference), which was convened to establish a new, post-World War II international economic system, the World Bank officially began operations in June 1946. Its first loans were geared toward the postwar reconstruction of western Europe. Beginning in the mid-1950s, it played a major role in financing investments in infrastructural projects in developing countries, including roads, hydroelectric dams, water and sewage facilities, maritime ports, and airports.
The World Bank Group comprises five constituent institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The IBRD provides loans at market rates of interest to middle-income developing countries and creditworthy lower-income countries. The IDA, founded in 1960, provides interest-free long-term loans, technical assistance, and policy advice to low-income developing countries in areas such as health, education, and rural development. Whereas the IBRD raises most of its funds on the world’s capital markets, the IDA’s lending operations are financed through contributions from developed countries. The IFC, operating in partnership with private investors, provides loans and loan guarantees and equity financing to business undertakings in developing countries. Loan guarantees and insurance to foreign investors against loss caused by noncommercial risks in developing countries are provided by the MIGA. Finally, the ICSID, which operates independently of the IBRD, is responsible for the settlement by conciliation or arbitration of investment disputes between foreign investors and their host developing countries.
The World Bank is related to the UN, though it is not accountable either to the General Assembly or to the Security Council. Each of the bank’s more than 180 member states are represented on the board of governors, which meets once a year. The governors are usually their countries’ finance ministers or central bank governors. Although the board of governors has some influence on IBRD policies, actual decision-making power is wielded largely by the bank’s 25 executive directors. Five major countries—the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, and France—appoint their own executive directors. The other countries are grouped into regions, each of which elects one executive director. Throughout the World Bank’s history, the bank president, who serves as chairman of the Executive Board, has been an American citizen.
Voting power is based on a country’s capital subscription, which is based in turn on its economic resources. The wealthier and more developed countries constitute the bank’s major shareholders and thus exercise greater power and influence. For example, in the early 21st century the United States exercised nearly one-sixth of the votes in the IBRD, more than double that of Japan, the second largest contributor. Because developing countries hold only a small number of votes, the system does not provide a significant voice for these countries, which are the primary recipients of World Bank loans and policy advice.
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The bank obtains its funds from the capital subscriptions of member countries, bond flotations on the world’s capital markets, and net earnings accrued from interest payments on IBRD and IFC loans. Approximately one-tenth of the subscribed capital is paid directly to the bank, with the remainder subject to call if required to meet obligations.
The World Bank is staffed by more than 10,000 people, roughly one-fourth of whom are posted in developing countries. The bank has more than 100 offices in member countries, and in many countries staff members serve directly as policy advisers to the ministry of finance and other ministries. The bank has consultative as well as informal ties with the world’s financial markets and institutions and maintains links with nongovernmental organizations in both developed and developing countries.
The debt crisis of the early 1980s—during which many developing countries were unable to service their external debt to multilateral lending institutions, because of a slowdown in the world economy, high interest rates, a decline in commodity prices, and wide fluctuations in oil prices, among other factors—played a crucial role in the evolution of World Bank operations. The bank had become increasingly involved in shaping economic and social policies in indebted developing countries. As a condition of receiving loans, borrowing countries were required to implement stringent “structural adjustment programs,” which typically included severe cuts in spending for health and education, the elimination of price controls, the liberalization of trade, the deregulation of the financial sector, and the privatization of state-run enterprises. Although intended to restore economic stability, these programs, which were applied in a large number of countries throughout the developing world, frequently resulted in increased levels of poverty, mounting unemployment, and a spiraling external debt. In the wake of the debt crisis, the World Bank focused its efforts on providing financial assistance in the form of balance-of-payments support and loans for infrastructural projects such as roads, port facilities, schools, and hospitals. Although emphasizing poverty alleviation and debt relief for the world’s least developed countries, the bank has retained its commitment to economic stabilization policies that require the implementation of austerity measures by recipient countries.
The World Bank and the IMF played central roles in overseeing free-market reforms in eastern and central Europe after the fall of communism there in the 1980s and ’90s. The reforms, which included the creation of bankruptcy and privatization programs, were controversial because they frequently led to the closure of state-run industrial enterprises. “Exit mechanisms” to allow for the liquidation of so-called “problem enterprises” were put into place, and labour laws were modified to enable enterprises to lay off unneeded workers. The larger state enterprises often were sold to foreign investors or divided into smaller, privately owned companies. In Hungary, for example, some 17,000 businesses were liquidated and 5,000 reorganized in 1992–93, leading to a substantial increase in unemployment. The World Bank also provided reconstruction loans to countries that suffered internal conflicts or other crises (e.g., the successor republics of former Yugoslavia in the late 1990s). This financial assistance did not succeed in rehabilitating productive infrastructure, however. In several countries the macroeconomic reforms resulted in increased inflation and a marked decline in the standard of living.
Apr 28, 2024 · Key Takeaways. The World Bank is an international organization that provides financing, advice, and research to developing nations to help advance their economies. The World Bank and...
- Will Kenton
With 189 member countries, staff from more than 170 countries, and offices in over 130 locations, the World Bank Group is a unique global partnership: five institutions working for sustainable solutions that reduce poverty and build shared prosperity in developing countries.
The World Bank Group ( WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Group. [7] . The bank is headquartered in Washington, D.C., in the United States.
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