The World Bank: an overview of some major issues

Abstract

The World Bank (henceforth ‘the Bank’) is an institution whose objective is the promotion, world-wide, of sustainable economic development and poverty reduction. It pursues these objectives through lending, through the production of research and economic analysis and through the provision of policy advice and technical assistance. The purpose of this book is to critically examine the rationale of this institution and to describe the policies which it currently carries out, in order to examine whether its objectives are best served by its current mix of activities.