Global Education Project EARTH
Support Earth Education   Donate

Chart of Voting Control of the IMF and World Bank

Voting Control of the IMF and World Bank
The IMF was formed in 1945 by the UN. Each of the 189 IMF member countries is assigned a quota, or contribution, that reflects the country's relative size in the global economy. Financial contributions from member governments are linked to voting power.
The World Bank (WB) is a shareholder company. more than 80% of the Bank’s assets come from international investors. The bank’s main activity is investment in profit seeking activities—hard core investment supported by vigorous debt service procedures.
Whereas banks and companies can go bankrupt if they invest unwisely, the World Bank and the IMF can pursue their loans in perpetuity, regardless of the loans having been given to dictators or incompetent borrowers, and regardless of whether the money actually benefited the poor.
When lending money, a commercial bank is only required to have financial assets (“money”) equalling a fraction of the amount of its lending. Over 90% of the “money” in use in the United States exists only as records kept by banks and other financial institutions.

2005 version of this chart

Sources

IMF; www.imf.org/external/np/sec/memdir/members.aspx#total
World Bank; www.worldbank.org/en/about/leadership/votingpowers

Tags: imf, world bank, global power, voting control of the imf and world bank, development

Sign up for EARTH Dispatches

Enter you email below to get jaw dropping charts and maps delivered straight to your inbox.

Get the EARTH presentation

A 150 page high-resolution PDF containing all updated maps, charts and data on EARTH website; use as an information-packed educational slide show, printed booklet or a set of single-page handouts.

Learn More

Test your EARTH Savvy

Forest area in the United States decreased between 2000 and 2015.