World Bank must embrace ambitious reforms

11 February 2010

Douglas Alexander has called on the World Bank to embrace a package of ambitious reforms at the Spring Meetings in April.

In a speech to the bank's management and stakeholders at the LSE on Wednesday, the Secretary of State set out the UK's priorities for World Bank reform amid major global challenges.

He told them the world's poor faced "a crisis of conflict and fragility" alongside the financial and climate crises, and that the bank "should be the leader in the global fight against poverty."

Outlining his vision of the World Bank's priorities he said it should:

• tackle the toughest development challenges;
• concentrate on efforts to help the poorest countries;
• become a bank that is quick and nimble enough to respond to an unpredictable world.

Mr Alexander's speech came ahead of next week's Development Committee Deputies meeting and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund's Spring Meetings in Washington, on April 25.

He said the bank should focus of three key areas; voting reform to give poorer countries a greater say at the bank, speeding up decentralisation and driving better performance through changes in leadership and corporate governance.