Forthcoming meeting: World Bank Seminars 22 - 23 May, 2008 - London, UK → for further details ..

The World Bank is a global institution mainly owned by the rich country governments with great power over the economic and social development of poorer ones. Based in Washington, D.C., and a sister organisation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it wields its power mainly by attaching conditions to its project loans.

Transport projects account for about 15 per cent of the World Bank's US$23 billion annual lending, and many have led to privatisation in rail, ports and aviation. The Bank often pushes job cuts and other ways of cutting labour costs, such as the 85,000 retrenchments in Argentine railways, which it financed.

The World Bank is a major focus of all ITF sections, regions and departments. The ITF Education Department has also developed a project to build understanding and develop strategies about global transport restructuring and the role of international institutions in driving it. For more about the project, and the materials it has already produced in English, French and Spanish, please follow the page link below.

The World Bank has recently issued a new draft transport strategy document called Safe, Clean, Affordable: Transport for Development, which outlines the policies it plans up to 2015. The ITF has submitted some critical comments about it. Both are in English only at this stage, and available to download below.