Welcome

Annual Meetings

The Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) normally meet once a year to discuss the work of their respective institutions. The Annual Meetings, which generally take place in September/October, have customarily been held in Washington for two consecutive years and in another member country in the third year.

The Inaugural Meeting of the Boards of Governors was held in Savannah, Georgia, USA in March 1946. The first Annual Meetings were held in Washington in 1946.

The Annual Meetings include meetings of the Development Committee, the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the Group of Ten, the Group of Twenty-Four, and various other constituencies. At the conclusion of their meetings, the Development Committee and the International Monetary and Financial Committee, as well as several other groups, issue communiqués. The Annual Meetings will include a plenary session, at which Governors take up matters of business. At the Annual Meetings, the Boards of Governors make decisions on how current international monetary issues should be addressed and approve corresponding resolutions. The Annual Meetings are chaired by a Governor of the WBG and the IMF, with the chairmanship rotating among the membership each year. Every two years it elects Executive Directors. Each year any new members are welcomed into the WBG and the IMF.

Because the Annual Meetings bring such a large number of member country officials together, they provide opportunities for consultations large and small, formal and informal. Numerous seminars are held in conjunction with the meetings, including seminars conducted by staff members for members of the press. These seminars are designed to foster creative dialogue among the private sector, government delegates, and senior Bank and IMF officials. The Per Jacobsson Lecture on international finance, which is sponsored by a foundation set up in honor of the IMF's third Managing Director, is also given each year in conjunction with the Meetings.

Spring Meetings

At the heart of the gathering are meetings of the joint Development Committee and the IMF's International Monetary and Financial Committee, which discuss progress on the work of the World Bank Group and the IMF. Also featured are seminars, regional briefings, press conferences, and many other events focused on the global economy, international development, and the world's financial markets.

The plenary session of the World Bank Group Boards of Governors and the IMF is scheduled only during the Annual Meetings in the autumn.