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The World Bank
EstablishedJuly 7, 1944 (80 years ago) (1944-07-07)
TypeInternational financial institution
Legal statusTreaty
Headquarters1818 H Street, NW
Washington, D.C., U.S.[1]
Membership
189 countries (IBRD)[2]
174 countries (IDA)[2]
Key people
Parent organization
World Bank Group
Staff
12,300 (in 2020)[5]
Websiteworldbank.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 purposes of economic development.[6] The World Bank is the collective name for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA), two of five international organizations owned by the World Bank Group. It was established along with the International Monetary Fund at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference. After a slow start, its first loan was to France in 1947. In its early years, it primarily focused on rebuilding Europe.[7] Over time, it focused on providing loans to developing world countries.[8] In the 1970s, the World Bank re-conceptualized its mission of facilitating development as being oriented around poverty reduction.[8] For the last 30 years, it has included NGOs and environmental groups in its loan portfolio. Its loan strategy is influenced by environmental and social safeguards.

As of 2022, the World Bank is run by a president and 25 executive directors, as well as 29 various vice presidents. IBRD and IDA have 189 and 174 member countries, respectively. The U.S., Japan, China, Germany and the U.K. have the most voting power. The bank aims loans at developing countries to help reduce poverty. The bank is engaged in several global partnerships and initiatives, and takes a role in working toward addressing climate change. The World Bank hosts an Open Knowledge Repository for its publications.

In 2020, the World Bank’s total commitments amounted to USD 77.1 billion, it had 12,300 full-time staff, and it operated in 145 countries.[5] World Bank projects cover a range of areas from building schools to fighting disease, providing water and electricity, and environmental protection, and as such, they are linked to most of the Sustainable Development Goals.[5]

The World Bank has been criticized as promoting inflation and harming economic development. There has also been criticism of the bank's governance and response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The current president (starting in 2023) is Ajay Banga who is known to support climate action, unlike his predecessor David Malpass.[9][10]

History

[edit]
Harry Dexter White (left) and John Maynard Keynes, the "founding fathers" of both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)[11]

The World Bank was created at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference, along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The president of the World Bank is traditionally an American.[12] The World Bank and the IMF are both based in Washington, D.C., and work closely with each other.

The Gold Room at the Mount Washington Hotel where the International Monetary Fund and World Bank were established

Although many countries were represented at the Bretton Woods Conference, the United States and United Kingdom were the most powerful in attendance and dominated the negotiations.[13]: 52–54  The intention behind the founding of the World Bank was to provide temporary loans to low-income countries that could not obtain loans commercially.[14] The bank may also make loans and demand policy reforms from recipients.[14]

In its early years, the bank made a slow start for two reasons: it was underfunded, and there were leadership struggles between the US executive director and the president of the organization. When the Marshall Plan went into effect in 1947, many European countries began receiving aid from other sources. Faced with this competition, the World Bank shifted its focus to non-European allies. Until 1968, its loans were earmarked for the construction of infrastructure works, such as seaports, highway systems, and power plants, that would generate enough income to enable a borrower country to repay the loan. In 1960, the International Development Association was formed (as opposed to a UN fund named SUNFED), providing soft loans to developing countries.

Before 1974, the reconstruction and development loans the World Bank made were relatively small. Its staff was aware of the need to instill confidence in the bank. Fiscal conservatism ruled, and loan applications had to meet strict criteria.[13]: 56–60 

The first country to receive a World Bank loan was France in 1947. The bank's president at the time, John McCloy, chose France over two other applicants, Poland and Chile. The loan was for US$250 million, half the amount requested, and came with strict conditions. France had to agree to produce a balanced budget and give priority of debt repayment to the World Bank over other governments. World Bank staff closely monitored the use of the funds to ensure that the French government met the conditions. In addition, before the loan was approved, the United States Department of State told the French government that its members associated with the Communist Party would first have to be removed. The French government complied and removed the Communist coalition government—the so-called tripartite. Within hours, the loan to France was approved.[15]

From 1974 to 1980, the bank concentrated on meeting the basic needs of people in the developing world. The size and number of loans to borrowers greatly increased, as loan targets expanded from infrastructure into social services and other sectors.[16]

These changes can be attributed to Robert McNamara, who was appointed to the presidency in 1968 by Lyndon B. Johnson.[8][13]: 60–63  McNamara implored bank treasurer Eugene Rotberg to seek out new sources of capital outside of the northern banks that had been the primary sources of funding. Rotberg used the global bond market to increase the capital available to the bank.[17] One consequence of the period of poverty alleviation lending was the rapid rise of debt of developing countries. From 1976 to 1980, developing world debt rose at an average annual rate of 20%.[18][19]

The World Bank Administrative Tribunal was established in 1980, to decide on disputes between the World Bank Group and its staff where allegation of non-observance of contracts of employment or terms of appointment had not been honored.[20]

McNamara was succeeded by U.S. President Jimmy Carter's nominee, Alden W. Clausen, in 1980.[21][22] Clausen replaced many members of McNamara's staff and crafted a different mission emphasis. His 1982 decision to replace the bank's Chief Economist, Hollis B. Chenery, with Anne Krueger was an example of this new focus. Krueger was known for her criticism of development funding and for describing developing countries' governments as "rent-seeking states".

During the 1980s, the bank emphasized lending to service debt of developing countries, and structural adjustment policies designed to streamline the economies of developing nations. UNICEF reported in the late 1980s that the structural adjustment programs of the World Bank had been responsible for "reduced health, nutritional and educational levels for tens of millions of children in Asia, Latin America, and Africa".[23]

Structure

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Presidents

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The president of the bank is the president of the entire World Bank Group. The president is responsible for chairing meetings of the boards of directors and for overall management of the bank.

Traditionally, based on a tacit understanding between the United States and Europe, the president of the World Bank has been selected from candidates nominated by the United States, the largest shareholder in the bank. This is significant because the World Bank tends to lend more readily to countries that are friendly with the United States, not because of direct U.S. influence but because of the employees of the World Bank.[24] In 2012, for the first time, two non-US citizens were nominated. The nominee is subject to confirmation by the board of executive directors to serve a five-year, renewable term. While most World Bank presidents have had banking experience, some have not.[25][26]

On 23 March 2012, U.S. president Barack Obama announced that the United States would nominate Jim Yong Kim as the next president of the bank.[27] Jim Yong Kim was elected on 27 April 2012 and reelected to a second five-year term in 2017. He announced that he would resign effective 1 February 2019.[28] He was replaced on an interim basis by now-former World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva, then by David Malpass on 9 April 2019. David Malpass faced criticism in 2023 as he had "sparked outcry by appearing to question the role of humans in climate change".[9]

In 2023, a new president was appointed: Ajay Banga. His term began on 2 June 2023. He was supported by the American president Joe Biden partly because he supports climate action.[9] He is also expected to help low-income countries deal with debts. He is the first Indian American to lead the bank.[9]

Presidents of the World Bank
Name Dates Nationality Previous work
Eugene Meyer 1946–1946  United States Newspaper publisher and Chairman of the Federal Reserve
John J. McCloy 1947–1949  United States Lawyer and United States Assistant Secretary of War
Eugene R. Black, Sr. 1949–1963  United States Bank executive with Chase Bank and executive director with the World Bank
George Woods 1963–1968  United States Bank executive with First Boston
Robert McNamara 1968–1981  United States President of the Ford Motor Company, United States Secretary of Defense under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson
Alden W. Clausen 1981–1986  United States Lawyer, bank executive with Bank of America
Barber Conable 1986–1991  United States New York State Senator and US Congressman
Lewis T. Preston 1991–1995  United States Bank executive with J.P. Morgan & Co.
James Wolfensohn 1995–2005  United States and  Australia Wolfensohn was a naturalised American citizen before taking office. Corporate lawyer and banker
Paul Wolfowitz 2005–2007  United States US Ambassador to Indonesia, US Deputy Secretary of Defense, dean of the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, a prominent architect of 2003 invasion of Iraq, resigned World Bank post due to ethics scandal[29]
Robert Zoellick 2007–2012  United States United States Deputy Secretary of State and US Trade Representative
Jim Yong Kim 2012–2019  United States Former Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard, president of Dartmouth College, naturalized American citizen[30]
Kristalina Georgieva (acting) 2019  Bulgaria Former European Commissioner for the Budget and Human Resources and 2010's "European of the Year"
David Malpass 2019–2023  United States Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs
Ajay Banga 2023–present  United States Former head of Mastercard[9]

Vice presidents and boards of directors

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The vice presidents of the bank are its principal managers, in charge of regions, sectors, networks and functions. There are two executive vice presidents, three senior vice presidents, and 24 vice presidents.[31]

The boards of directors consist of the World Bank Group president and 25 executive directors. The president is the presiding officer, and ordinarily has no vote except to break a tie. The executive directors as individuals cannot exercise any power or commit or represent the bank unless the boards specifically authorized them to do so. With the term beginning 1 November 2010, the number of executive directors increased by one, to 25.[32]

Chief economists

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Main article: World Bank Chief Economist
World Bank chief economists[33]
Name Dates Nationality
Hollis B. Chenery 1972–1982  United States
Anne Osborn Krueger 1982–1986  United States
Stanley Fischer 1988–1990  United States and  Israel
Lawrence Summers 1991–1993  United States
Michael Bruno 1993–1996  Israel
Joseph E. Stiglitz 1997–2000  United States
Nicholas Stern 2000–2003  United Kingdom
François Bourguignon 2003–2007  France
Justin Yifu Lin 2008–2012  China
Kaushik Basu 2012–2016  India
Paul Romer 2016–2018  United States
Shanta Devarajan (Acting) 2018–2018  United States
Penny Goldberg[34][35][36] 2018–2020  United States
Aart Kraay (Acting)[37][38] 2020–2020
Carmen Reinhart 2020–2022  United States
Indermit Gill 2022–present  India

Staff

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In 2020, the World Bank had 12,300 full-time staff, and it operated in 145 countries.[5]

Politicians who were World Bank employees

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Some notable politicians who worked for the World Bank include:

Members

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Main article: List of World Bank members
The World Bank Group headquarters building in Washington, D.C.

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has 189 member countries, while the International Development Association (IDA) has 174. Each member state of IBRD should also be a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and only members of IBRD are allowed to join other institutions within the bank (such as IDA).[2] The five United Nations member states that are not members of the World Bank are Andorra, Cuba, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and North Korea. Kosovo is not a member of the UN, but is a member of the IMF and the World Bank Group, including the IBRD and IDA.

Voting power

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In 2010, voting powers at the World Bank were revised to increase the voice of developing countries, notably China. The countries with most voting power are now the United States (15.85%), Japan (6.84%), China (4.42%), Germany (4.00%), the United Kingdom (3.75%), France (3.75%), India (2.91%),[41] Russia (2.77%), Saudi Arabia (2.77%) and Italy (2.64%). Under the changes, known as 'Voice Reform – Phase 2', countries other than China that saw significant gains included South Korea, Turkey, Mexico, Singapore, Greece, Czech Republic, Hungary, Brazil, India, and Spain. Most developed countries' voting power was reduced, along with a few developing countries such as Nigeria. The voting powers of the United States, Russia and Saudi Arabia were unchanged.[42][43]

The changes were brought about with the goal of making voting more universal in regards to standards, rule-based objective indicators, and transparency among other things. Now, developing countries have an increased voice in the "Pool Model", backed especially by Europe. Additionally, voting power is based on economic size in addition to the International Development Association contributions.[44]

List of 20 largest countries by voting power in each World Bank institution

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The following table shows the subscriptions of the top 20 member countries of the World Bank by voting power in the following World Bank institutions as of December 2014 or March 2015: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the International Development Association (IDA), and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). Member countries are allocated votes at the time of membership and subsequently for additional subscriptions to capital (one vote for each share of capital stock held by the member).[45][46][47][48]

The 20 Largest Countries by Voting Power (Number of Votes)
Rank Country IBRD Country IFC Country IDA Country MIGA
World 2,201,754 World 2,653,476 World 24,682,951 World 218,237
1  United States 358,498  United States 570,179  United States 2,546,503  United States 32,790
2  Japan 166,094  Japan 163,334  Japan 2,112,243  Japan 9,205
3  China 107,244  Germany 129,708  United Kingdom 1,510,934  Germany 9,162
4  Germany 97,224  France 121,815  Germany 1,368,001  France 8,791
5  France 87,241  United Kingdom 121,815  France 908,843  United Kingdom 8,791
6  United Kingdom 87,241  India 103,747  Saudi Arabia 810,293  China 5,756
7  India 67,690  Russia 103,653  India 661,909  Russia 5,754
8  Saudi Arabia 67,155  Canada 82,142  Canada 629,658  Saudi Arabia 5,754
9  Canada 59,004  Italy 82,142  Italy 573,858  India 5,597
10  Italy 54,877  China 62,392  China 521,830  Canada 5,451
11  Russia 54,651  Netherlands 56,931  Poland 498,102  Italy 5,196
12  Spain 42,948  Belgium 51,410  Sweden 494,360  Netherlands 4,048
13  Brazil 42,613  Australia 48,129  Netherlands 488,209  Belgium 3,803
14  Netherlands 42,348   Switzerland 44,863  Brazil 412,322  Australia 3,245
15  South Korea 36,591  Brazil 40,279  Australia 312,566   Switzerland 2,869
16  Belgium 36,463  Mexico 38,929   Switzerland 275,755  Brazil 2,832
17  Iran 34,718  Spain 37,826  Belgium 275,474  Spain 2,491
18   Switzerland 33,296  Indonesia 32,402  Norway 258,209  Argentina 2,436
19  Australia 30,910  Saudi Arabia 30,862  Denmark 231,685  Indonesia 2,075
20  Turkey 26,293  South Korea 28,895  Pakistan 218,506  Sweden 2,075

Methods

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The World Bank plays a significant role in global economic governance due to its broad mandate, its vast resource base, its frequent and regular interactions with governments as clients, and its myriad publications and databases.[5] In 2020, the World Bank’s total commitments amounted to USD 77.1 billion and it operated in 145 countries.[5] World Bank projects cover a range of areas from building schools to fighting disease, providing water and electricity, and environmental protection, and as such, they are linked to most of the Sustainable Development Goals.[5]

As a guideline to the World Bank's operations in any particular country, a Country Assistance Strategy is produced in cooperation with the local government and any interested stakeholders and may rely on analytical work performed by the bank or other parties.

The World Bank's negative pledge clause prohibits its debtor countries from using public assets to repay other creditors before they repay the World Bank.[49]: 134 

World Bank Group

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This section is an excerpt from World Bank Group.[edit]
The World Bank Group building (Washington, DC)

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.[50] The bank is headquartered in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It provided around $98.83 billion in loans and assistance to "developing" and transition countries in the 2021 fiscal year.[51] The bank's stated mission is to achieve the twin goals of ending extreme poverty and building shared prosperity.[52] Total lending as of 2015 for the last 10 years through Development Policy Financing was approximately $117 billion.[53] Its five organizations are:

The first two are sometimes collectively referred to as the World Bank.

The activities of the World Bank (the IBRD and IDA) focus on developing countries, in fields such as human development (e.g. education, health), agriculture and rural development (e.g. irrigation and rural services), environmental protection (e.g. pollution reduction, establishing and enforcing regulations), infrastructure (e.g. roads, urban regeneration, and electricity), large industrial construction projects, and governance (e.g. anti-corruption, legal institutions development). The IBRD and IDA provide loans at preferential rates to member countries, as well as grants to the poorest countries. Loans or grants for specific projects are often linked to wider policy changes in the sector or the country's economy as a whole. For example, a loan to improve coastal environmental management may be linked to the development of new environmental institutions at national and local levels and the implementation of new regulations to limit pollution.[54] Furthermore, the World Bank Group is recognized as a leading funder of climate investments in developing countries.[55]

Environmental and social safeguards

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To ensure that World Bank-financed operations do not compromise these goals but instead add to their realisation, the following environmental, social, and legal safeguards were defined: Environmental Assessment, Indigenous Peoples, Involuntary Resettlement, Physical Cultural Resources, Forests, Natural Habitats, Pest Management, Safety of Dams, Projects in Disputed Areas, Projects on International Waterways, and Performance Standards for Private Sector Activities.[56]

At the World Bank's 2012 annual meeting in Tokyo, a review of these safeguards was initiated, which was welcomed by several civil society organisations.[57] As a result, the World Bank developed a new Environmental and Social Framework, which has been in implementation since 1 October 2018.[58]

The World Bank or the World Bank Group is also a sitting observer in the United Nations Sustainable Development Group.[59]

Loans for environmental protection

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Beginning in 1989, in response to harsh criticism from many groups, the bank began including environmental groups and NGOs in its loans to mitigate the past effects of its development policies that had prompted the criticism.[13]: 93–97  It also formed an implementing agency, in accordance with the Montreal Protocols, to stop ozone-depletion damage to the Earth's atmosphere by phasing out the use of 95% of ozone-depleting chemicals, with a target date of 2015. Since then, in accordance with its so-called "Six Strategic Themes", the bank has put various additional policies into effect to preserve the environment while promoting development. For example, in 1991, the bank announced that to protect against deforestation, especially in the Amazon, it would not finance any commercial logging or infrastructure projects that harm the environment.

Poverty reduction strategies

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For the poorest developing countries in the world, the bank's assistance plans are based on poverty reduction strategies; by combining an analysis of local groups with an analysis of the country's financial and economic situation the World Bank develops a plan pertaining to the country in question. The government then identifies the country's priorities and targets for the reduction of poverty, and the World Bank instigates its aid efforts correspondingly.

Forty-five countries pledged US$25.1 billion in "aid for the world's poorest countries", aid that goes to the World Bank International Development Association (IDA), which distributes the loans to eighty poorer countries. Wealthier nations sometimes fund their own aid projects, including those for diseases. Robert B. Zoellick, the former president of the World Bank, said when the loans were announced on 15 December 2007, that IDA money "is the core funding that the poorest developing countries rely on".[60]

World Bank organizes the Development Marketplace Awards, a grant program that surfaces and funds development projects with potential for development impact that are scalable and/or replicable. The grant beneficiaries are social enterprises with projects that aim to deliver social and public services to groups with the lowest incomes.

Reducing inequalities

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In 2013 the bank adopted the concept of Shared Prosperity as one of the World Bank’s “Twin Goals” for that year, with the other one focusing on poverty reduction, aiming to reduce the share of people in extreme poverty to 3 percent of the global population by 2030.[5][61] The bank defined Shared Prosperity as increasing the income of the bottom 40 percent of the population in each country. As a result, reducing inequality, in this definition, had become an integral part of the World Bank’s objectives and effectively “broadened its mandate”.

The World Bank has been criticized for not embracing the reduction of inequality (be it economic inequality within a country, or international inequality between countries) as a goal. Instead, the bank has taken an instrumental approach to the issue, in which inequality policies were seen as useful as long as they contributed to reducing (extreme) poverty or promoting average economic growth.[5]

As part of the 2030 Agenda, Sustainable Development Goal 10 aims at reducing inequalities within countries and among countries. World Bank officials participated in the negotiations for SDG 10 in the years prior to 2015. They advocated for the adoption of the bank's own preferred benchmarks. This ensured that other organizations would evaluate their success based on the bank’s own definition of inequality. Some have argued that the World Bank reduced the transformative potential of SDG 10 during the agenda-setting stage.[5]

The bank has stated its ambition to help catalyze the SDGs through “thought leadership, global convening, and country-level uptake”. In general, the World Bank strategically uses the power of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in its favor to reinforce its own policies or interests while minimizing the chance of being itself reshaped or transformed by these goals. Scholars found that the World Bank used the growing momentum of the (SDGs) to further its strategic objectives without being influenced by the SDGs in turn.[5] Also, the bank engaged with the SDGs selectively; efforts to integrate the goals into organizational practices remained limited; and their inclusion in country-level processes is primarily voluntary.

United Nations Department of Global Communications

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Based on an agreement between the United Nations and the World Bank in 1981, Development Business became the official source for World Bank Procurement Notices, Contract Awards, and Project Approvals.[62]

In 1998, the agreement was renegotiated, and included in this agreement was a joint venture to create an online version of the publication. Today, Development Business is the primary publication for all major multilateral development banks, U.N. agencies, and several national governments, many of which have made the publication of their tenders and contracts in Development Business a mandatory requirement.[62]

Open data and open knowledge repository

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The World Bank collects and processes large amounts of data and generates them on the basis of economic models. These data and models have gradually been made available to the public in a way that encourages reuse,[63] whereas the recent publications describing them are available as open access under a Creative Commons Attribution License, for which the bank received the SPARC Innovator 2012 award.[64]

The World Bank hosts the Open Knowledge Repository as an official open access repository for its research outputs and knowledge products.[65] The World Bank's repository is listed in the Registry of Research Data Repositories re3data.org.[66]

The World Bank also endorses the Principles for Digital Development.[67]

International Health Partnership

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Together with the World Health Organization, the World Bank administers the International Health Partnership (IHP+). IHP+ is a group of partners committed to improving the health of citizens in developing countries. Partners work together to put international principles for aid effectiveness and development cooperation into practice in the health sector. IHP+ mobilizes national governments, development agencies, civil society, and others to support a single, country-led national health strategy in a well-coordinated way.

COVID-19 pandemic

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In September 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Bank announced a $12 billion plan to supply "low and middle income countries" with a vaccine once it was approved.[68] In June 2022, the bank reported that $10.1 billion had been allocated to supply 78 countries with the vaccine[69]

The US Treasury has committed $667 million for the World Bank's global Pandemic Fund, a third of the $2 billion the fund hopes to raise.[70] The Pandemic Fund, established in September 2022, is a collaborative initiative among countries, implementing partners, philanthropies, and civil society organizations. It aims to fund investments that address critical gaps in pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response capacities at national, regional, and global levels, with a particular focus on low- and middle-income countries.[71]

The World Bank has been criticized for the slow response of its Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF), a fund that was created to provide money to help manage pandemic outbreaks.[72] The terms of the PEF, which is financed by bonds sold to private investors, prevent any money from being released from the fund until 12 weeks after the outbreak was initially detected (23 March). The COVID-19 pandemic met all other requirements for the funding to be released in January 2020.[73]

Response to climate change

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See also: Climate finance

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in 2012:

A 4-degree warmer world can, and must be, avoided—we need to hold warming below 2 degrees ... Lack of action on climate change threatens to make the world our children inherit a completely different world than we are living in today. Climate change is one of the single biggest challenges facing development, and we need to assume the moral responsibility to take action on behalf of future generations, especially the poorest.[74]

A World Bank report into climate change in 2012 noted that (p. xiii) "even with the current mitigation commitments and pledges fully implemented, there is roughly a 20 percent likelihood of exceeding 4 °C by 2100." This is despite the fact that the "global community has committed itself to holding warming below 2 °C to prevent 'dangerous' climate change". Furthermore, "a series of recent extreme events worldwide highlight the vulnerability of all countries ... No nation will be immune to the impacts of climate change."[75]

The World Bank doubled its aid for climate change adaptation from $2.3bn (£1.47bn) in 2011 to $4.6bn in 2012. The planet is now 0.8 °C warmer than in pre-industrial times. It says that 2 °C warming will be reached in 20 to 30 years.[76][77]

The World Bank has been assigned temporary management responsibility of the Clean Technology Fund (CTF), focused on making renewable energy cost-competitive with coal-fired power as quickly as possible, but this may not continue after UN's Copenhagen climate change conference in December 2009, because of the bank's continued investment in coal-fired power plants.[78]

In December 2017, Kim announced the World Bank would no longer finance fossil fuel development,[79][80] but a 2019 International Consortium of Investigative Journalists article found that the bank continues "to finance oil and gas exploration, pipelines and refineries," that "these fossil fuel investments make up a greater share of the bank's current energy lending portfolio than renewable projects," and that the bank "has yet to meaningfully shift away from fossil fuels."[81]

EU finance ministers joined civil sector groups, including Extinction Rebellion, in November 2019 in calling for an end to World Bank funding of fossil fuels.[82][83][84]

In 2021, the World Bank offered support to Kazakhstan to help the country in its mission for decarbonization and carbon neutrality.[85]

In 2023 a new president was appointed: Ajay Banga. He was supported by the American president Joe Biden partly because he supports climate action. The former president David Malpass faced criticism as he challenged the scientific consensus on climate change.[86]

In May 2024, the board of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage held its first historic meeting abroad in Abu Dhabi. This important UN Climate Change initiative was operationalized during the COP28 UN Climate Change Conference in December 2023. During the three-day meeting, the board elected Jean-Christophe Donnellier of France and Richard Sherman of South Africa as co-chairs. Furthermore, initiating a process to select an executive director, the board started working on access modalities, financial instruments, facilities, arrangements, and ensuring observer participation in the board meetings and related proceedings. An essential part of the meeting was the discussion between the board and the World Bank on establishing the fund as a World Bank-hosted financial intermediary fund (FIF), specifically focusing on ensuring that the most vulnerable frontline communities can access the fund's resources directly.[87]

Grants table

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The following table lists the top 15 DAC 5 Digit Sectors[88] to which the World Bank has committed funding, as recorded in its International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) publications. The World Bank states on the IATI Registry website that the amounts "will cover 100% of IBRD and IDA development flows" but will not cover other development flows.[89]

Committed funding (US$ millions)
Sector Before 2007 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Sum
Road transport 4,654.2 1,993.5 1,501.8 5,550.3 4,032.3 2,603.7 3,852.5 2,883.6 3,081.7 3,922.6 723.7 34,799.8
Social/ welfare services 613.1 208.1 185.5 2,878.4 1,477.4 1,493.2 1,498.5 2,592.6 2,745.4 1,537.7 73.6 15,303.5
Electrical transmission/ distribution 1,292.5 862.1 1,740.2 2,435.4 1,465.1 907.7 1,614.9 395.7 2,457.1 1,632.2 374.8 15,177.8
Public finance management 334.2 223.1 499.7 129.0 455.3 346.6 3,156.8 2,724.0 3,160.5 2,438.9 690.5 14,158.6
Rail transport 279.3 284.4 1,289.0 912.2 892.5 1,487.4 841.8 740.6 1,964.9 1,172.2 −1.6 9,862.5
Rural development 335.4 237.5 382.8 616.7 2,317.4 972.0 944.0 177.8 380.9 1,090.3 −2.5 7,452.4
Urban development and management 261.2 375.9 733.3 739.6 542.1 1,308.1 914.3 258.9 747.3 1,122.1 212.2 7,214.9
Business support services and institutions 113.3 20.8 721.7 181.4 363.3 514.0 310.0 760.1 1,281.9 1,996.0 491.3 6,753.7
Energy policy and administrative management 102.5 243.0 324.9 234.2 762.0 654.9 902.1 480.5 1,594.2 1,001.8 347.9 6,648.0
Agricultural water resources 733.2 749.5 84.6 251.8 780.6 819.5 618.3 1,040.3 1,214.8 824.0 −105.8 7,011.0
Decentralisation and support to subnational government 904.5 107.9 176.1 206.7 331.2 852.8 880.6 466.8 1,417.0 432.5 821.3 6,597.3
Disaster prevention and preparedness 66.9 2.7 260.0 9.0 417.2 609.5 852.9 373.5 1,267.8 1,759.7 114.2 5,733.5
Sanitation - large systems 441.9 679.7 521.6 422.0 613.1 1,209.4 268.0 55.4 890.6 900.8 93.9 6,096.3
Water supply - large systems 646.5 438.1 298.3 486.5 845.1 640.2 469.0 250.5 1,332.4 609.9 224.7 6,241.3
Health policy and administrative management 661.3 54.8 285.8 673.8 1,581.4 799.3 251.5 426.3 154.8 368.1 496.0 5,753.1
Other 13,162.7 6,588.3 8,707.1 11,425.7 17,099.5 11,096.6 16,873.4 13,967.1 20,057.6 21,096.5 3,070.3 140,074.5
Total 24,602.6 13,069.4 17,712.6 27,152.6 33,975.6 26,314.8 34,248.6 27,593.9 43,748.8 41,905.2 7,624.5 297,948.5

Criticisms and controversy

[edit]

The World Bank has long been criticized by non-governmental organizations, such as the indigenous rights group Survival International, and academics, including Henry Hazlitt, Ludwig Von Mises, and its former Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz.[90][91][92] Hazlitt argued that the World Bank along with the monetary system it was designed within would promote world inflation and "a world in which international trade is State-dominated" when they were being advocated.[93] Stiglitz argued that the free market reform policies that the bank advocates are often harmful to economic development if implemented badly, too quickly ("shock therapy"), in the wrong sequence or in weak, uncompetitive economies.[91][94]

One of the most common criticisms of the World Bank has been the way it is governed. While the World Bank represents 188 countries, it is run by a small number of economically powerful countries. These countries (which also provide most of the institution's funding) choose the bank's leadership and senior management, and their interests dominate.[95]: 190  Titus Alexander argues that the unequal voting power of western countries and the World Bank's role in developing countries makes it similar to the South African Development Bank under apartheid, and therefore a pillar of global apartheid.[96]: 133–141 

In the 1990s, the World Bank and the IMF forged the Washington Consensus, policies that included deregulation and liberalization of markets, privatization and the downscaling of government. Though the Washington Consensus was conceived as a policy that would best promote development, it was criticized for ignoring equity, employment, and how reforms like privatization were carried out. Stiglitz argued that the Washington Consensus placed too much emphasis on GDP growth and not enough on the permanence of growth or on whether growth contributed to better living standards.[92]: 17 

The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations report criticized the World Bank and other international financial institutions for focusing too much "on issuing loans rather than on achieving concrete development results within a finite period of time" and called on the institution to "strengthen anti-corruption efforts".[97]

James Ferguson has argued that the main effect of many development projects carried out by the World Bank and similar organizations is not the alleviation of poverty. Instead, the projects often serve to expand the exercise of bureaucratic state power. His case studies of development projects in Thaba-Tseka show that the World Bank's characterization of the economic conditions in Lesotho was flawed, and the bank ignored the political and cultural character of the state in crafting its projects. As a result, the projects failed to help the poor but succeeded in expanding the government bureaucracy.[98]

Criticism of the World Bank and other organizations often takes the form of protesting, such as the World Bank Oslo 2002 Protests,[99] the 2007 October Rebellion,[100] and the 1999 Battle of Seattle.[101] Such demonstrations have occurred all over the world, even among the Brazilian Kayapo people.[102]

Another source of criticism has been the tradition of having an American head the bank, implemented because the United States provides the majority of World Bank funding. "When economists from the World Bank visit poor countries to dispense cash and advice," observed The Economist in 2012, "they routinely tell governments to reject cronyism and fill each important job with the best candidate available. It is good advice. The World Bank should take it."[103]

In 2021, an independent inquiry of the World Bank's Doing Business reports by the law firm WilmerHale found that World Bank leaders, including then-Chief Executive Kristalina Georgieva and then-President Jim Yong Kim,[104] pressured staff members of the bank to alter data to inflate the rankings for China, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates.[105][106]

In September 2023, it was revealed that the World Bank had poured billions of dollars into fossil fuel projects in 2022. Campaigners estimated that about $3.7bn in trade finance was supplied to oil and gas projects despite the World Bank's green pledges. [107]

Structural adjustment

[edit]

The effect of structural adjustment policies on poor countries has been one of the most significant criticisms of the World Bank.[108] The 1979 energy crisis plunged many countries into economic crisis.[109]: 68  The World Bank responded with structural adjustment loans, which distributed aid to struggling countries while enforcing policy changes in order to reduce inflation and fiscal imbalance. Some of these policies included encouraging production, investment and labour-intensive manufacturing, changing real exchange rates, and altering the distribution of government resources. Structural adjustment policies were most effective in countries with an institutional framework that allowed these policies to be implemented easily. For some countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, economic growth regressed and inflation worsened.

By the late 1980s, some international organizations began to believe that structural adjustment policies were worsening life for the world's poor, due to a reduction in social spending and an increase in the price of food, as subsidies were lifted. It also have been criticized for being Debt-trap diplomacy. The World Bank changed structural adjustment loans, allowing for social spending to be maintained, and encouraging a slower change to policies such as transfer of subsidies and price rises.[109]: 70  In 1999, the World Bank and the IMF introduced the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper approach to replace structural adjustment loans.[110]: 147 

Fairness of assistance conditions

[edit]

Some critics,[111] most prominently the author Naomi Klein, are of the opinion that the World Bank Group's loans and aid have unfair conditions attached to them that reflect the interests, financial power and political doctrines (notably the Washington Consensus) of the bank and the countries that are most influential within it. Among other allegations, Klein says the Group's credibility was damaged "when it forced school fees on students in Ghana in exchange for a loan; when it demanded that Tanzania privatise its water system; when it made telecom privatisation a condition of aid for Hurricane Mitch; when it demanded labour 'flexibility' in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami; when it pushed for eliminating food subsidies in post-invasion Iraq".[112]

A study of the period 1970–2004 found that a less-developed country would on average receive more World Bank projects during any period when it occupied one of the rotating seats on the UN Security Council.[113]

Sovereign immunity

[edit]

The World Bank requires sovereign immunity from countries it deals with.[114][115][116] Sovereign immunity waives a holder from all legal liability for their actions. It is proposed that this immunity from responsibility is a "shield which The World Bank wants to resort to, for escaping accountability and security by the people".[114] As the United States has veto power, it can prevent the World Bank from taking action against its interests.[114]

Cronyism and Elite Capture

[edit]

Criticism was also leveled under the presidency of Jim Yong Kim, particularly regarding financial management and staff morale. Reports of a controversial $94,000 bonus awarded to the Bank's CFO, Bertrand Badré (2013-2016), at his request on top of a tax-free salary of $379,000, while significant staff cuts and austerity measures were being implemented, drew criticism from within and outside the organization. This bonus, revealed by Senior Country Officer Fabrice Houdart amidst a broader effort by Kim to implement cost-cutting reforms, sparked debates over transparency, ethics, and the organization's commitment to its own principles, further exacerbating concerns about trust and leadership within the World Bank. Badré renounced the bonus and left the Bank shortly after. [117][118] [119] [120] [121]

The World Bank was the subject of a scandal with its then-president Paul Wolfowitz and his aide, Shaha Riza, in 2007.[122]

According to reports citing a recording of a 2018 staff meeting shared by a whistleblower, World Bank staff were informed Robert Malpass, a recent economics graduate of Cornell University and the son of David Malpass, then US Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs and later President of the World Bank Group, would be hired as an analyst in July of that year. On the recording, staff were reportedly told Robert Malpass was a "prince" and an "important little fellow" who could go "running to daddy." Bank officials also believed David Malpass was more influential than then-US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who they said "has little or no clue on things."[123] In April 2018, the US Treasury had changed its position to back a $13 billion capital infusion for the bank.[124]

Malpass served as undersecretary of the US Treasury in the Trump administration before being appointed by Trump in February 2019 to be World Bank's president. Before Malpass became president, his son Robert had joined the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a branch of the World Bank Group that lends money to private sector businesses and whose USD 5.5 billion funding from a USD 13 billion World Bank capital increase was secured by the US Treasury at the time that David Malpass was the Treasury's undersecretary.[125]

Criticism of specific loans and programs in Africa

[edit]

On 9 August 2023, the World Bank announced it was suspending new loans to Uganda because it claims that a new anti-homosexuality act, enacted in May 2023, contradicts its core values on human rights. The World Bank joined the United States in imposing sanctions against Uganda over the anti-homosexuality law. Uganda dismissed the move by the World Bank as unjust and hypocritical.[126]

The World Bank funded a program in Tanzania supposed to help nature conservation. The program was criticized because it led to severe violation of human rights toward the Maasai people.[127]

See also

[edit]

References

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