On April 21, 2018, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim announced that Bank shareholders, including the United States, have concluded negotiations and endorsed a general capital increase (GCI) package of $13 billion for the IBRD and IFC (see Development Committee communiqué). In addition to the paid-in capital, the package includes a series of internal reforms and a set of policy measures that strengthen the Bank’s ability to scale up resources and deliver on its mission in areas of the world most in need. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in his own remarks welcomed the reforms. The Bretton Woods Committee will convene a dialogue with Assistant Secretary Tarbert and the Committee’s Legislative Task Force to share voices of experience and discuss next steps for moving the GCI package forward through the U.S. legislative process.
On Thursday, May 17, 2018 the Committee’s Legislative Task Force participated in a closed-door roundtable discussion with Assistant Secretary for International Markets and Investment Policy Heath Tarbert and a small group of Treasury officials from the Office of Multilateral Development Banks. The conversation allowed for the U.S. Treasury team to gather insights from voices of experience as they shape their strategy for moving the World Bank’s general capital increase package through the U.S. legislatives process.
The private dialogue centered around the merits of the World Bank’s “Sustainable Financing for Sustainable Development” package, which was endorsed by the Bank’s Development Committee on April 21, 2018 at the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings. The agreement provides for a $13 billion capital increase for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Financial Corporation (IFC) in conjunction with a slate of historic reform measures that represent decades of U.S. policy priorities at the Bank. This was the first of what will likely be a series of consultative discussions between the Bretton Woods Committee and U.S. stakeholders on the capital agreement.
Click here to view the Sustainable Financing for Sustainable Development: World Bank Group Capital Package Proposal.
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