The Mandates and the Players

Abstract

Over 60 years, the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has changed significantly. It has expanded into the World Bank Group (WBG), which contains five institutions: IBRD, International Development Association (IDA), International Financial Corporation (IFC), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Its membership includes 185 countries. It has about 10,000 employees. As of June 30, 2008, its total assets were over $233 billion, total lending $99 billion, and operating budget $2.3 billion. The IBRD lending commitment for FY08 was $13.5 billion. The fifteenth IDA replenishment reached $25 billion in December 2007; IDA lending was $11.2 billion in FY08. In addition, the Bank manages a wide range of trust funds ($21.4 billion at the end of FY07) through 1,015 active accounts, supported by 339 sovereign and non-sovereign donor agencies (Annual Report 2008). The Bank has become “the world’s premier development institution” (Marshall 2008:1), offering an extraordinary array of services and products to developing countries. This book will focus on IBRD and IDA only and refers to them as the Bank.