Forty years after the signing of the final act of the Bretton Woods Conference on 22nd July 1944, which embodied the agreement on the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank now comprises three organisations: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development...

Measures of different kinds are needed to cope with the manifold tasks arising in international development finance, and a variety of instruments, models and concepts have been suggested in the international discussion. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a subsidiary of the World Bank,...

The present arrangements for providing developing countries, and in particular the least developed countries, with international finance are inadequate in both quantitative and qualitative terms. Fundamental changes seem necessary. These changes might incorporate the establishment of a new...

In the World Bank’s last annual report the Federal Republic of Germany was described as a leading member of the World Bank Group (IBRD, IFC and IDA). The Federal Republic has subscribed about $ 1.4 bn to the capital of the World Bank and to date contributed $ 1.1 bn to IDA. The second German...

The lending criteria applied by the IMF and the World Bank have been converging for some time. Considering also that since the floating of exchange rates in the early seventies the IMF seems to have lost in importance as a monetary institution, debate is growing on the question of whether the...