International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (redirected from International Bank of Reconstruction and Development)

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), specialized agency of the United Nations, with headquarters at Washington, D.C.; also called the World Bank. Plans were laid at the Bretton Woods Conference (1944) for the formation of a world bank; it was formally organized in 1945, when 28 countries ratified the agreement; there are now 184 members. The bank not only makes loans to member nations, but, under government guarantee, to private investors, for the purpose of facilitating productive investment, encouraging foreign trade, and discharging burdens of international debt. All members of the bank must also belong to the International Monetary Fund. The bank is self-sustaining and has maintained a profit on its lending activities. It is controlled by a board of governors, one from each member state. Votes are allocated according to capital subscription. Ordinary affairs are conducted by 22 executive directors, five appointed by the five largest capital subscribers, the United States, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, and France, and 17 elected by the remaining members. Regional vice presidents oversee the bank's operations in five regions: Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, East Africa, West Africa, and (in one grouping) Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

The bank also operates the Economic Development Institute, which offers training in economic development for officials of member countries. Closely affiliated with the bank is the International Finance Corporation (est. 1956), which invests in private enterprises without government guarantee. The bank organized the International Development Association (1960) to extend credit on easier terms, mainly to developing countries. The group of institutions is known as the World Bank Group. Criticism that the IBRD-financed projects were environmentally destructive led the bank to establish an environmental fund (1990) providing low-interest loans for developing countries. Developing nations have complained that the IBRD imposes the free-market system on them, thereby discouraging planning, nationalization, and public investment.

Bibliography

See the World Bank's publication, World Bank Operations: Sectoral Programs and Policies (1972); E. S. Mason and R. E. Asher, The World Bank since Bretton Woods (1973); C. Payer, The World Bank: A Critical Analysis (1982); S. Please, The Hobbled Giant: Essays on the World Bank (1984).

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International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)

Main component organization of the World Bank. The IBRD lends money to middle-income and creditworthy poorer countries. Most of its funds come from sales of bonds in international capital markets. More than 180 countries are members of the IBRD. Each member's voting power is linked to its capital subscription; the U.S., with some one-sixth of the shares in the IBRD, has veto power over any proposed changes to the bank. See also International Monetary Fund; United Nations Development Programme.