World Bank is an indispensable part of the World Bank Group. The World Bank is comprised of two agencies of the World Bank Group namely the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development or IBRD and the International Development Association or IDA.
The World Bank came into existence in the year 1945. But the concept was developed in a year before at United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference.
185 Countries of the world hold World Bank membership. These member countries are the shareholders of World Bank who play a vital role in World Bank's Policy Decisions. The five most prominent members who hold substantial shares of World Bank are France, Germany, Japan, U.K and U.S.A. Among these five the largest shareholder is the United States. So, U.S.A holds the power to nominate the President of World Bank. Other 184 members cast their votes. But as the Voting Power of the member countries are determined by their wealth and their share in World Bank, the election process of the World Bank President is used to be quite unfair.
World Bank was established with the noble cause of helping the poor people all over the world. From the first day, the World Bank activities concentrated upon Reduction of Global Poverty as Elimination of Global Poverty was the main aim of the Organization. To achieve its objective the World Bank decided on providing Low Interest Loans and even No Interest Loans to the poor economies which were in urgent need of it. Following this plan of action the World Bank sanctioned a huge loan of $250 million to France within two years of its establishment. This loan money was used for post war reconstruction of France.
To bring sustained economic development in the underdeveloped and developing economies of the world, World Bank determined four major steps to be followed. The plan of action of the World Bank included Infrastructure Creation, Capacity Building, Development of Efficient Financial Systems and Eradication of Corruption.
World Bank
Economywatch Team
World Economy | Indian Economy
