World Bank

Extracted Attributes

• Type

  International financial institution

• Mission

  Eradicate extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity

• Criticisms

  Harmful effects of past loan conditions (structural adjustment programs), governance structure dominated by wealthy countries, environmental record, promoting inflation, harming economic development, response to COVID-19 pandemic

• Established

  1944

• Headquarters

  Washington, D.C., United States

• Key Activities

  Providing financing, policy advice, technical assistance, private sector development, development research, knowledge repository, training

• Member Countries

  189

• Current President

  Ajay Banga

• Largest Shareholder

  United States

• Largest Voting Powers

  U.S. (15.85%), Japan (6.84%), China (4.42%), Germany (4.00%), United Kingdom (3.75%)

• Official Operations Began

  1946-06

• Fiscal Year 2020 Commitments

  77.1 billion USD

• Countries of Operation (2020)

  145 countries

• Fiscal Year 2021 Loans and Assistance

  98.83 billion USD

Timeline

• Established at the Bretton Woods Conference alongside the International Monetary Fund. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)

  1944

• Officially began operations with 38 members. (Source: Britannica, World Bank website snippet)

  1946-06

• Provided its first loan to France for post-war reconstruction. (Source: DBPedia)

  1947

• Began playing a major role in financing infrastructural projects in developing countries. (Source: Britannica)

  1950s

• Shifted its focus to providing loans to developing world countries. (Source: DBPedia)

  1970s

• Implemented structural adjustment programs, which later faced criticism for detrimental effects on social welfare in developing nations. (Source: Wikipedia, DBPedia)

  1980s

• Faced protests regarding its policies. (Source: DBPedia)

  1988

• Faced protests regarding its policies. (Source: DBPedia)

  2000

• Total commitments amounted to USD 77.1 billion and operated in 145 countries. (Source: Web Search)

  2020

• Provided approximately $98.83 billion in loans and assistance to developing and transition countries during its fiscal year. (Source: Web Search)

  2021

• Ajay Banga was appointed as the current president. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2023-06

World Bank

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 economic development. It is the collective name for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA), two of the five international organizations owned by the World Bank Group. The World Bank was established along with the International Monetary Fund at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference. Initially, its loans helped rebuild countries devastated by World War II. Over time, it has shifted its focus to development, with a stated mission of eradicating extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. The World Bank is a member of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group. It is governed by its 189 member countries, though the United States, as its largest shareholder, has traditionally appointed its president. The current president is Ajay Banga, appointed in June 2023. The Bank's lending and operational decisions are made by a president and a board of 25 executive directors. The largest voting powers are held by the U.S. (15.85%), Japan (6.84%), China (4.42%), Germany (4.00%), and the United Kingdom (3.75%). The Bank's activities span all sectors of development. It provides financing, policy advice, and technical assistance to governments, and also focuses on private sector development through its sister organizations. The Bank's work is guided by environmental and social safeguards to mitigate harm to people and the environment. In addition to its lending operations, it serves as one of the world's largest centers of development research and knowledge, publishing numerous reports and hosting an Open Knowledge Repository. Current priorities include financing for climate action and responding to global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Bank has been criticized for the harmful effects of its policies and for its governance structure. Critics argue that the loan conditions attached to its structural adjustment programs in the 1980s and 1990s were detrimental to the social welfare of developing nations. The Bank has also been criticized for being dominated by wealthy countries, and for its environmental record on certain projects.

Web Search Results

• World Bank - Wikipedia

  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. 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. The bank's stated mission is to achieve the twin goals of [...] ## Methods 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 many publications and databases. In 2020, the World Bank's total commitments amounted to USD 77.1 billion and it operated in 145 countries. World Bank projects cover a range of areas from building schools to fighting disease, providing water and electricity, and environmental protection. [...] 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. 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. Stiglitz argued that the free market reform

• The World Bank Group's Role in Global Development

  The World Bank is a group of five multilateral institutions that aim to eradicate global poverty. Recent challenges, including climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have renewed debate about the bank’s role in international development. As rival institutions grow in popularity, some experts say the World Bank cannot deliver on its goals without overarching reform. [...] The World Bank Group is a family of five multilateral institutions focused on economic development whose overarching mission is global poverty reduction. Established by Western powers in 1944, the World Bank was originally tasked with rebuilding the economies of postwar Europe. Almost eighty years later, it has funded more than twelve thousand projects and expanded its reach into nearly all of the world’s developing countries. More From Our Experts David J. Scheffer [...] Together, the IBRD and the IDA are commonly referred to as the World Bank. As of 2023, the bank’s 6 largest [PDF] shareholders—out of its 189 members—are the United States, Japan, China, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. More on: International Organizations China Financial Markets Development World Bank

• A brief history of the World Bank - Development Aid

  ## What is the World Bank? The World Bank (WB) is both the name of an umbrella organization (called the World Bank Group) as an international financing institution that provides grants and loans to some 100 developing countries. Generally speaking, when the term “World Bank” is used, it refers to the financing activities as opposed to the other services and products provided by the World Bank Group. [...] The World Bank Group (WBG) is a collection of five international development organizations: 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 Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). [...] ## What Does “The World Bank” Stand For? The World Bank Group (WBG) refers to five interrelated organizations that provide loans, grants, investment opportunities, and underwriting services to more than 140 countries around the world, whereas the term “World Bank” (WB) usually refers solely to the loans and grants for poverty eradication programs.

• World Bank | Definition, History, Organization, & Facts | Britannica

  The World Bank is the world’s largest multilateral creditor institution, and as such many of the world’s poorest countries owe it large sums of money. Indeed, for dozens of the most heavily indebted poor countries, the largest part of their external debt—in some cases constituting more than 50 percent—is owed to the World Bank and the multilateral regional development banks. According to some analysts, the burden of these debts—which according to the bank’s statutes cannot be canceled or [...] 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 supervises—on behalf of international creditors—the implementation of free-market reforms. Together with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World [...] 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

• Getting to Know the World Bank

  World Bank Logo Trending Trending Trending DataNon-communicable diseases cause 70% of global deaths country dropdown # Getting to Know the World Bank Image Image Image Image Image Image The World Bank The World Bank is an international development organization owned by 187 countries. Its role is to reduce poverty by lending money to the governments of its poorer members to improve their economies and to improve the standard of living of their people. [...] How the World Bank was established The World Bank was established in 1944 to help rebuild Europe and Japan after World War II. Its official name was the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). When it first began operations in 1946, it had 38 members. Today, most of the countries in the world are members. [...] The Bank is also one of the world's largest research centers in development. It has specialized departments that use this knowledge to advise countries in areas like health, education, nutrition, finance, justice, law and the environment. Another part of the Bank, the World Bank Institute, offers training to government and other officials in the world through local research and teaching institutions.

• Image

  

• Country

  United States

• Instance Of

  Q1345691

• Headquarters

  World Bank Headquarters

• Inception Date

  12/27/1945

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. 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 the 1970s, it focused on loans to developing world countries, shifting away from that mission in the 1980s. For the last 30 years, it has included NGOs and environmental groups in its loan portfolio. Its loan strategy is influenced by the Sustainable Development Goals as well as 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 operates a number of training wings and it works with the Clean Air Initiative and the UN Development Business. It works within the Open Data Initiative and hosts an Open Knowledge Repository. The World Bank has been criticized as promoting inflation and harming economic development, causing protests in 1988 and 2000. There has also been criticism of the bank's governance and response to the COVID-19 pandemic.