International Finance Corporation

• Pages: 531-532

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS 531

WORLD BANK GROUP

Headquarters: 1818 H Street NW., Washington, DC 20433

Phone, 202–473–1000. Internet, http://www.worldbank.org.

President JIM YONG KIM

The World Bank Group consists of

f‌i ve institutions: the International Bank

for Reconstruction and Development

(IBRD), the International Development

Association (IDA), the International

Finance Corporation (IFC), Multilateral

Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA),

and the International Centre for the

Settlement of Investment Disputes

(ICSID). The two primary economic and

social development institutions are the

IBRD and the IDA. Donor countries and

countries with borrowing rights—187

in total—support and benef‌i t from these

two development banks. The other three

institutions complement the activities of

the IBRD and the IDA.

International Bank for Reconstruction and

Development

The International Bank for Reconstruction

and Development (IBRD) off‌i cially came

into existence in 1944.

The Bank’s purpose is to promote

economic, social, and environmental

progress in developing nations by

reducing poverty so that their people may

live better and fuller lives. The Bank lends

funds at market-determined interest rates,

provides advice, and serves as a catalyst to

stimulate outside investments. Its resources

come primarily from funds raised in the

world capital markets, its retained earnings,

and repayments on its loans.

International Development Association

The International Development

Association (IDA) came into existence

in 1960, as an institution of the

World Bank Group. The Association’s

resources consist of subscriptions and

supplementary resources in the form of

general replenishments on a three year

revolving cycle, mostly from its more

industrialized and developed members;

special contributions by its richer

members; repayments on earlier credits;

and transfers from IBRD’s net earnings.

The Association promotes economic

development, reduces poverty, and

raises the standard of living in the least

developed areas of the world. It does

this by f‌i nancing their developmental

requirements on concessionary terms,

which are more f‌l exible and bear less

heavily on the balance of payments than

those of conventional loans, thereby

furthering the objectives of IBRD and

supplementing its activities.

International Finance Corporation

Headquarters: 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20433

Phone, 202–473–3800. Internet, http://www.ifc.org.

President JIM YONG KIM

Executive Vice President JIN-YONG CAI