International Finance Corporation
The International Finance Corporation ( engl. International Finance Corporation - IFC ) is a company of the World Bank Group, headquartered in Washington, DC.
The IFC, founded in 1956 has the task of contributing to poverty reduction in the least developed countries by promoting the growth of the private sector and provided assistance in the mobilization of domestic and foreign capital. To this end, it assumes without any guarantees of the respective country investments in private companies or grants these loans. It assumes an important role as a catalyst for further private investment in developing countries. The IFC is working to expand its activities in the poorer developing regions.
In fiscal year 2003, IFC supported 186 investment projects worth a total of $ 5.4 billion $ by their own loans and investments worth $ 4 billion. In addition to the promotion and participation of private investment, IFC is also active in the area of consulting and technical assistance. You here focuses primarily on issues of privatization and restructuring of enterprises, the development of capital markets and the structuring of complicated and risky investments.
With the admission of Montenegro in 2007 and Qatar and São Tomé and Príncipe in 2008 181 countries are members of the IFC. Under the Articles, only those countries can apply for membership, which member of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, a further organization of the World Bank Group already are. Germany is a founding member, with a capital share of about 2.36 billion U.S. $, which currently is about 5.5 % ( share of voting rights 5.37 %).
IFC is managed similar to the World Bank by a Board of Governors and a Board of Directors. The Board of Governors and the Executive Board include the Governors and Directors of the World Bank, whose countries are members of the IFC. The Chairman of the Board is the President of the World Bank. Chief Administrative Officer of the IFC is its president. For the ongoing operations of the IFC is a separate chairman, executive vice president, was appointed.