World Bank (WB)

A specialized United Nations agency, established at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944. The chief objectives of the bank, as stated in its articles of agreement, are “to assist in the reconstruction and development of territories of members by facilitating the investment of capital for productive purposes [and] to promote private foreign investment by means of guarantees or participation in loans [and] to supplement private investment by providing, on suitable conditions, finance for productive purposes out of its own capital.”