Bretton Woods Project

The Bretton Woods Project aims to examine and impact the actions of the World Bank and IMF. It tracks their projects, policy changes, and overall operations, focusing particularly on issues related to the environment and social welfare.

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New report documents abuses at IFC-funded hospitals

1 week ago | brettonwoodsproject.org | Luiz Vieira

In January 2025, Bloomberg reported on deeply concerning behaviour at several private hospitals, from Uganda to the Philippines, supported by funds from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s private investment arm. These hospitals, when faced with people unable to pay user fees, reportedly denied emergency care, detained patients and even kept corpses until payment was received, driving families into poverty.
Private lenders resist to Ethiopia's debt relief

1 week ago | brettonwoodsproject.org | Luiz Vieira

Ethiopia is facing challenges in reaching an agreement with bondholders under the much-criticised G20’s Common Framework for Debt Treatments (CF) after its 2023 default, highlighting the need for structural reform of the current ad hoc international debt restructuring system (see Observer Spring 2023). Ethiopia defaulted on its debt obligations when it missed a $33 million payment on a $1billion bond in December 2023.
UN HRC roundtable concludes debt crisis is a human rights crisis

1 week ago | brettonwoodsproject.org | Luiz Vieira

Underscoring the human rights consequences of the evolving debt crisis (see Observer Spring 2024, Autum 2023) and the fact that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are widely off-track, on 11 February the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) held its Seventh Intersessional Meeting on Human Rights and the 2030 Agenda.
FFD4 is a feminist issue

1 week ago | brettonwoodsproject.org | Tara Povey

Finance FfD4 civil society feminist workstream calls for gender and race equality, human rights and systemic change in the international financial architecture, while groups plan strategic convening in Morocco. This year’s Fourth International Financing for Development Conference (FfD) taking place in Seville from 30 June to 3 July presents a crucial opportunity for civil society to challenge systemic inequalities in the international financial architecture.
La FpD4 es una cuestión feminista

1 week ago | brettonwoodsproject.org | Tara Povey

Finanzas La línea de trabajo feminista de la sociedad civil sobre la FpD4 pide igualdad de género y raza, derechos humanos y cambio sistémico en la arquitectura financiera internacional, mientras que los grupos planean una convocatoria estratégica en Marruecos.
G20 communiqué analysis Annual Meetings 2024: progress on tax and inequality obscures Group's wider failures

Oct 29, 2024 | brettonwoodsproject.org | Luiz Vieira

The G20 communiqué was issued after the Group’s October 23-24 gathering at the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings, which took place at the 25th anniversary of the group’s Finance Track. The meeting focused on the Brazilian Presidency’s three priorities: social inclusion and the fight against hunger and poverty; energy transitions and sustainable development; and reform of global governance institutions.
G24 communiqué analysis Annual Meetings 2024: calls for robust multilateral response to mounting risk and global crises

Oct 29, 2024 | brettonwoodsproject.org | Tara Povey

The G24’s communiqué opens with a call for a multilateral approach “to restore peace, stability, and livelihoods”, and refers to the humanitarian crises caused by conflict. In terms of economic outlook, the communiqué tempers a relatively optimistic forecast on stabilising growth and easing inflationary pressures with an emphasis on the increasing risk faced by developing countries, the responsibility for which is placed squarely as a “spillover effect of advanced economies’ policies”.
IMFC chair’s statement analysis Annual Meetings 2024: a fiscal consolidation “pivot” as IMF struggles to get its house in order

Oct 29, 2024 | brettonwoodsproject.org | Tara Povey

IFI governance The International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) has for the 6th occasion failed to issue a joint communiqué revealing the lack of unity among its members. The IMFC is the direction-setting body of finance ministers and central bank directors for the IMF. Rather than releasing a communiqué that would set out a consensus position about the direction of the Fund and key reforms, the chair and individual members released statements.
IFC standards review must respond to UN’s call for rights-based transition mineral value chains

Oct 15, 2024 | brettonwoodsproject.org | Luiz Vieira

Underlying the energy transition lies a daunting human rights conundrum, getting to “net zero” to address the climate emergency is a human rights imperative. But the most likely pathway to that goal requires an enormous input of minerals for renewable energy technologies. Therein lies a fundamental dilemma: the mineral extractives industry is a chief perpetrator of human rights abuses, including the forced displacement of countless communities who lie in the path of mining operations.
New World Bank Corporate Scorecard: overlooking client priorities and ignoring development impact

Oct 15, 2024 | brettonwoodsproject.org | Luiz Vieira

In late June, the World Bank Group (WBG) released its new Corporate Scorecard. It replaces over 150 indicators previously used to evaluate individual WBG agencies with one set of 22 new outcome-focused indicators to be used by the entire WBG, organised around 15 outcome areas.