Bretton Woods Project
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Bretton Woods Project
@brettonwoodsproject.org
We scrutinise and influence the World Bank and the IMF, with a focus on the environment, gender equality, democratic governance and financialisation.

Check our website: https://www.brettonwoodsproject.org
The @ifcorg.bsky.social has made its first ever securitisation transaction in a bid to mobilise private finance. Bank watchers are wary of its increasing private sector focus, including the need for adequate E&S frameworks @danielagabor.bsky.social

🔗 tinyurl.com/IFCSecuritis...
Securing a role for the private sector: IFC’s first securitisation transaction aims to mobilise private capital, but at what cost?
The IFC has made its first ever securitisation transaction of $510 million, in a bid to mobilise private finance.
tinyurl.com
December 19, 2025 at 11:28 AM
New Guest Comment by @kpatricio.bsky.social, Celine Tan and Stephen Connelly sets the record straight on new proposed UK legislation to provide debt relief to developing countries, calling the IMF recent analysis of the proposal “misplaced”

#BWObserver Winter25
🔗 tinyurl.com/DebtReliefUK
Legislative pathways to sovereign debt relief: What the IMF gets wrong – and how to fix it
New report from IMF on resolving debt restructuring linked to private creditors may lead to flawed analysis.
tinyurl.com
December 18, 2025 at 12:13 PM
WorldBank establishes task force to consider merger of CAO office and WorldBank IAM #independent #accountability #mechanism amid concerns of retrogression in accountability and civic space. More IN OUR #BWObserver Winter 25 👇

tinyurl.com/IAMsMerge
World Bank establishes task force to evaluate merger of its independent accountability mechanisms
Task force is expected to hold public consultations and establish a ‘reference group’ early in 2026.
tinyurl.com
December 18, 2025 at 9:35 AM
The WorldBank must reconsider its approach to ensure its new mining strategy learns from experience and contributes to national development

Read more from Anabel Marin, of Institute of Development Studies:

tinyurl.com/MineralsWint...
Critical minerals and the new development dilemma: What the WBG’s new strategy must get right
World Bank’s new mining strategy requires a new approach informed by critical review of what has worked.
tinyurl.com
December 17, 2025 at 2:39 PM
New in #BWObserver Winter25: #COP30 agrees promising Just Transition Work Programme, as Global South unions reject
World Bank’s #BillionsToTrillions approach to clean energy transition #Baku2Belem

🔗 tinyurl.com/COP30MDBs
Call for just transition becomes COP30 rallying cry, as doubts remain over MDBs’ growing climate finance role
Global South unions call for ‘clean break’ with World Bank’s ‘billions to trillions’ approach in the energy sector.
tinyurl.com
December 16, 2025 at 3:04 PM
People take the streets in Ecuador following #IMF backed austerity, including diesel subsidy

Read more in #BWObserver Winter 25: tinyurl.com/EcuadorProte...
Indigenous communities lead protests in Ecuador over IMF-prescribed austerity
Mass protests erupt in Ecuador after right-wing President Daniel Noboa implements harsh austerity measures in line with IMF demands.
tinyurl.com
December 16, 2025 at 10:54 AM
The debt system is broken. #FfD4 revived momentum for fair rules, but private creditors—the biggest players—remain unbound. Jubilee’s call for justice and cancellation is far from over. #DebtCrisis #Jubilee

Read our #BWObserver Winter 2025 cover piece: tinyurl.com/DebtCover
As Jubilee year draws to a close, debt crisis remains unresolved
With debt distress rising worldwide, the current debt architecture continues to prioritise creditors over people as Jubilee-inspired movements push for genuine cancellation, fair restructuring and rul...
tinyurl.com
December 15, 2025 at 1:54 PM
New Economics Foundation's research demonstrates that extreme wealth is a macro-risk. IMF's surveillance should analyse extreme wealth and mitigate against its harmful effects as part of its economic sustainability framework #ComprehensiveSurveillanceReview #BWObserver

tinyurl.com/ExtremeWealt...
IMF’s economic sustainability analyses fail to consider extreme wealth as macro-risk and address harms
New research by New Economics Foundation demonstrates extreme wealth is a macro-risk, yet this is excluded from IMF bilateral surveillance analyses.
tinyurl.com
December 15, 2025 at 9:30 AM
African countries need stronger voting rights at the World Bank and 2025 is the moment for fairer governance. #WorldBankReform

Read what Hannah Ryder and Trevor Lwere (of Development Reimagined) propose for the Bank’s 2025 Shareholding Review 👇
tinyurl.com/Shareholding...
World Bank Shareholding Review must deliver a better deal for African governments
Bank’s persistent voting power imbalance leaves African shareholders underrepresented and under-resourced, highlighting the need for the 2025 review to deliver reforms that strengthen borrower…
tinyurl.com
December 12, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Recently disclosed elevated debt levels in Senegal raises questions about the IMF's oversight of its lending programmes, with CSOs claiming this is just “the type of the iceberg”.

Read more in our new #BWObserver Winter 2025
🔗 tinyurl.com/SenegalDebt
December 12, 2025 at 9:38 AM
NEW #BWObserver Winter 2025! ❄️

We unpack rising sovereign debt pressures, what FfD4 actually delivered, fresh scrutiny of IMF data, World Bank shareholding reform debates, legislatures’ role in debt workouts, and the macro impact of extreme wealth concentration.
🔗 tinyurl.com/ObserverWinter25
Winter 2025
This issue spotlights how today’s architecture continues to fail developing countries despite renewed momentum for reform at the UN’s FfD4 conference. It explores mounting calls for fairer IMF and…
tinyurl.com
December 11, 2025 at 12:23 PM
#ICYMI : Did you miss any CSPF sessions at the #WBMeeting #IMFMeetings this year?

As part of our #BWDispatch Annuals 2025, we just published notes from featured sessions. Check it out👇

www.brettonwoodsproject.org/publications...
World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings 2025
Geopolitical tensions and poor economic prospects strain social and political stability, adding to the profound challenges to multilateralism.
www.brettonwoodsproject.org
November 7, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Bertha Argueta, Rebecca Thissen and Claire O’Manique argue that #debtjustice and public finance are key to kickstarting a #JustTransition #COP30

👉 www.eurodad.org/cop30-debt-j...
COP 30 must tackle the debt trap and shortfall in public finance to deliver a Just Transition
European Network on Debt and Development
www.eurodad.org
November 5, 2025 at 11:58 AM
New in #BWObserver Autumn 25: World Bank’s 2020-25 #FragilityConflict&Violence strategy nears end yet #civilsociety still await news of public consultation timeline

tinyurl.com/FCVReview
Civil society awaits Bank’s Fragility, Conflict & Violence strategy consultation opportunity
Despite Bank’s existing FCV strategy expiring this year, civil society still await announcement of public consultation on its replacement.
tinyurl.com
October 24, 2025 at 10:44 AM
New in #BWObserver Autumn25: Protests erupt in Angola as government, at behest of IMF and World Bank, cuts fuel subsidies amid high debt and tight fiscal space.

🔗 tinyurl.com/AngolaProtests

@re-course.org @powershiftafrica.bsky.social @westafricaweekly.bsky.social
Mass protests erupt in Angola following IMF-backed fuel subsidy removals
Civil society warns that without wider debt relief removing consumer subsidies simply shifts the burden onto the poor.
tinyurl.com
October 23, 2025 at 2:38 PM
The IMF and World Bank #AM2025 declared "uncertainty" the new normal, amid spectacle showcasing US and private capital interests.

Civil society was sidelined, austerity remains the prescription and genuine reform is missing.

Read our Annuals 2025 Wrap-up👇
tinyurl.com/WrapUpAnnual...
Annual Meetings 2025 Wrap-up: IMF and World Bank declare uncertainty the “new normal” amid spectacle showcasing US and private capital interests
Annual Meetings showcased the BWIs’ efforts to prove their loyalty to the current US administration and prioritise private capital, even as multilateralism erodes and civil society space shrinks.
brettonwoodsproject.org
October 22, 2025 at 8:25 AM
After G20 #IMFMeetings statement on debt falls flat, civil society calls for urgent action, including 'a change to the legal framework for private sector debt, much of which is issued under English law'

@debtjustice.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
How the west can stop the global south being strangled by debt | Heather Stewart
Labour would do well to remember its manifesto promise to revive Britain’s global leadership on development
www.theguardian.com
October 21, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Despite escalating economic costs of climate impacts and primacy of greentech in geopolitical tensions, US insists climate not ‘core’ to IMF’s work – potentially deepening the Fund’s crisis of legitimacy

More in our #BWObserver Autumn 25👉 tinyurl.com/IMFClimateFu...

@re-course.org
Future of IMF’s climate work uncertain, as climate crisis intensifies
US hostility to IMF’s climate work risks further exacerbating macroeconomic fallout from climate crisis.
tinyurl.com
October 21, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Join us today at #WBMeetings: How Can DPFs Promote Equitable Energy Access and Accomplish Climate Objectives?

Some additional research from us on the World Bank's approach to DPFs: www.brettonwoodsproject.org/2025/06/new-...
October 17, 2025 at 1:13 PM
#Tomorrow at #WBMeetings join us for a CSPF panel on DPF, one of the main tools the World Bank uses to deliver mitigation and adaptation - how is the Bank using it and how can it be improved?👇

📅 Fri 17 Oct, 11-12:30 DC
📍 WB I 2-220
📲 Zoom: www.worldbank.org/en/events/20...
October 16, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Tune in today for a #IMFmeetings CSPF event on IMF's Comprehensive Surveillance Review and economic sustainability, with experts from civil society organisations and
IMF

📅 11-12:30 DC
📍IMF HQ2-03B-768B
Zoom: imf.zoom.us/j/9308929040...

@re-course.org @ituc.bsky.social @oxfamifis.bsky.social
October 15, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Tomorrow at #IMFmeetings joins us for a CSPF on IMF's Comprehensive Surveillance Review and economic sustainability, with experts from civil society organisations and the IMF

@re-course.org @oxfamifis.bsky.social

📅 15 Oct, 11:00-12:30 DC
📍 IMF HQ2-03B-768B
📲 Tune-in imf.zoom.us/j/9308929040...
October 14, 2025 at 3:13 PM
UnitedNations Special Rapporteur on the right to development Prof Surya Deva argues UN at 80 reform must deliver strategic transformation, including of the governance structures of the IMF and WorldBank #UNGA80

tinyurl.com/UN80Reform
UN80: A missed opportunity for transformation?
Member states must deliver on strategic transformation that enables UN to respond to growing crises.
tinyurl.com
October 14, 2025 at 9:51 AM
70 civil society groups are calling on the IMF to create an SDRs Playbook. SDRs provided $650B in COVID relief without fueling inflation. Now we need reforms to unlock their full potential during crises

🔍 tinyurl.com/SDRsLetter2025

@ceprdc.bsky.social @aausa.bsky.social @eurodadnews.bsky.social
October 14, 2025 at 8:35 AM
IMF and World Bank continue to support policies that contribute to democratic backsliding and rise of populism and authoritarianism amid crisis of multilateralism #UNGA80

See the cover piece of our #BWObserver Autumn25 🔍

tinyurl.com/AusterityPop...
Fuelling authoritarianism: The role of the Fund and Bank in eroding the social contract
BWIs’ policies continue to contribute to the rise of populism, authoritarianism and backlash against multilateralism despite the institutions’ long-standing concerns and rhetorical support for reform.
tinyurl.com
October 13, 2025 at 9:43 AM