UK Minister on World Bank Reform

The World Bank must address governance and accountability questions, declared Douglas Alexander, UK Secretary of State for International Development in a public lecture at the LSE last week. Emphasising the Bank’s centrality to global action on the most difficult global development challenges, the Minister laid out the UK’s three priorities for World Bank reform: 1) agreement on voting reform, to give the poorest a greater voice; 2) moving staff out of Washington to improve the organisation’s delivery on the front line; and 3) forging a new compact between shareholders and management in which each is held to account for the highest performance.