The World Bank Group was established in 1944 and is headquartered in Washington. It employs approximately 10,000 staff across more than 120 offices worldwide. Its mission is to significantly reduce poverty and promote shared prosperity.
It provides developing countries with low-interest loans, interest-free credits, and grants. These resources are intended to support investment across a wide range of sectors, including education, health, public administration, infrastructure, financial sector and private sector development, agriculture, and environmental and natural resource management, among others.
The World Bank Group is composed of five institutions governed by its 188 member states:
- the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which lends to middle-income countries and creditworthy poorer countries;
- the International Development Association (IDA), which provides interest-free loans, credits and grants to the world’s poorest countries.
Together, the IBRD and IDA form the World Bank.
The other institutions of the World Bank Group are:
- the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which provides loans, equity financing and advisory services to stimulate private sector investment in developing countries;
- the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), which offers investors guarantees against losses associated with non-commercial risks in developing countries;
- the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), which provides international mechanisms for conciliation and arbitration of investment-related disputes.
