Clean the banks

The world has changed. The International Monetary Fund (IMF, also referred to as the Fund) and World Bank (also referred to as the Bank) have not changed enough. There seems no end in sight to the cycle of debt, and the free market policies imposed on poor countries continue, albeit with new names. Increasingly obvious is the need not just for debt write-offs and changes to Bank and Fund conditionality but for a more fundamental change to the role, remit and functioning of the international financial institutions (IFIs). This report is WDM’s contribution to an ongoing debate over what kind of global institutions we need in order to improve everyone’s quality of life in a highly interconnected world. We argue that, in their current forms, the World Bank and IMF are part of the problem rather than part of the solution and need a radical overhaul.