World Bank
www.worldbank.org
The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. The World Bank is not a bank in the common sense. It is made up of two unique development institutions owned by 185 member countries—the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA).
Each institution plays a different but supportive role in the World Bank’s mission of reducing global poverty and improving living standards. The IBRD focuses on middle income and creditworthy poor countries, while IDA focuses on the poorest countries in the world.
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The World Bank is like a cooperative where its 185 member countries are shareholders. The shareholders are represented by a Board of Governors, who are the ultimate policy makers at the World Bank. Generally, the governors are ministers of finance or ministers of development from the member countries.
The IBRD provides low-interest loans while IDA provides interest-free credits and grants to developing countries for education, health, infrastructure, communications and many other purposes.
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Membership:
The five largest shareholders, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States appoint an executive director, while other member countries are represented by 19 executive directors.They meet once a year at the Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund. Because the governors only meet annually, they delegate specific duties to 24 Executive Directors, who work on-site at the bank.
The President of the World Bank chairs meetings of the Board of Directors and is responsible for the overall management of the bank. By tradition, the bank president is a national of the United States - the bank’s largest shareholder - and is nominated by that country. The President is elected by the Board of Governors for a five-year, renewable term. The Executive Directors make up the Boards of Directors of the World Bank. They normally meet at least twice a week to oversee the bank's business, including approval of loans and guarantees, new policies, the administrative budget, country assistance strategies, and borrowing and financial decisions.
The World Bank operates day-to-day under the leadership and direction of the president, the management and senior staff, as well as vice presidents in charge of regions, sectors, networks and functions.