The World Bank is a UN entity.
The World Bank is a specialized entity of the United Nations (UN) . Its name is often written in an abbreviated form, that is, only with the initials BM and in English it is known as World Bank Group or WBG .
This institution, whose headquarters are located in Washington ( United States ), was created in 1944 and is made up of 185 member countries . Its main objective is to lower poverty rates through low-interest loans and economic support to developing nations .
The World Bank was born as an extension of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) , an initiative planned to help European nations in their reconstruction after World War II .
The beginnings of the World Bank
The World Bank was founded in 1945 , after the end of the Second World War , being approved by 38 countries initially until reaching the number of 181 member states. It fundamentally sought to help the economy of European countries that had been devastated by war, offering them loans that were destined for their reconstruction. The first to receive one was France (250 million dollars), later Chile, Japan and Germany among many others. The beginnings of the WB
The WB is maintained thanks to the payment of interest and speculation in the stock market, in addition to the fees that States contribute in order to participate in this organization. Those countries that are part of the World Bank have the right to borrow money in the event of a catastrophe, thus justifying the payment of high tariffs to avoid being left in total ruin in such situations. In 1990 the World Bank granted the largest loan ever given to Mexico, worth $ 1.26 billion for the country to use to pay off its foreign debt.
Due to the large debt that almost all countries had with the WB, the Initiative for the Reduction of the Debt of Highly Indebted Poor Countries was carried out, through which part of the debt was forgiven to the affected countries. if they worked with new structural adjustment policies.
The purpose of the World Bank is to contribute to the reduction of poverty.
Its conformation
The World Bank Group has offices in more than one hundred countries and has a staff of more than 10,000 employees. On the other hand, around 5,000 people collaborate with the organization on a temporary basis or as consultants.
The WB does not have an absolute owner, all member countries are owners, however there are some States that own more shares in this organization and this allows them to enjoy greater privileges, these are: United States (16.98% of the WB funds come from this country), Japan (owns 6.24% of the shares), Germany (4.82%) and France and the United Kingdom (4.62% each), it is known that the one with the most resources provides the greatest influence can exercise around the decisions that are made there.
Among the entities that are part of the group are the International Development Association ( IDA , 166 member countries), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development ( IBRD , with 185 member countries), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (known as MIGA , 171 member countries), the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes ( ICSID , 143 member countries) and the International Finance Corporation ( IFC , 179 member countries).
It should be noted that the World Bank has a team of Executive Directors that is made up of 12 permanent Executive Directors who have tenure and 12 who serve as alternates but are not authorized to participate in voting. On the other hand, the Executive Board is responsible for electing the President of the organization.
The operations of the World Bank
The way the WB operates consists of an annual meeting held between September and October, where the economic actions of the member countries are analyzed, after which the 24 executive directors meet where those countries that have the greatest shares in the WB They are the ones that have the greatest weight in decision-making and establish how each country should operate from that moment on.
There are many positions regarding the effectiveness or harmful nature that this institution has on the world economy. In a concise way, three positions can be recognized about this entity:
*Those who believe that it is contributing to the development and elimination of poverty in the world since its projects are effective. (very few dare to defend this position).
*Those who believe that the World Bank is primarily responsible for structural poverty but that if new social integration measures were planned, this could be positively modified.
*Those who also affirm that it is responsible for poverty in the world and maintain that it should disappear to give way to new mechanisms that project a fairer economic architecture and truly distribute wealth, without defending the particular interests of large shareholders as is the case. with the WB.