At the same time that the International Monetary1 Fund was created, the International Bank for Reconstruction2 and Development was also established. The function of the Bank was to provide a mechanism3 for supplying for long periods of time - 20 or 30 years -- the foreign exchange needed to rebuild and develop economies. It was recognized that buying equipment from abroad provides a short cut to development, but that is impossible for a country without substantial exports to obtain the currency needed to buy such equipment. By offering long-term financing, the Bank was expected to accelerate the growth of economies in this category.
The World Bank obtains the money it lends from three sources. When it was founded) members were required to subscribe4 to its capitalization. Each was assigned a block of stock in proportion to its Gross National Product. Ten percent of the subscription5 was to be paid to the Bank in cash, and the remainder was to be paid if the Bank needed it to cover its financial problems. The second source is private lenders The 90 percent of subscriptions6 served a guarantee for the Bank's own borrowing and enabled it to compete with the U. S. government, blue-chip private corporations, and other high-quality debtors7 in borrowing from the public. The money it obtained from borrowing was then lent to needy8 nations, in this way the Bank pledged the honor and the resources of all its members to repay loans to developing or war-torn countries, If the borrower defaulted, the Bank would first use up the money paid in by its member countries, then call on them to contribute more. A third source of money has since emerged--the profits from interest paid by borrowers from the Bank. By charging interest the money contributed initially9 by member countries, the Bank has succeeded in roughly doubling these contributions.
By June 1976, the Bank had made over $42.9 billion in loans to 115 countries. Most of these loans have been for projects designed to improve the in structure and thereby10 encourage privately11 financed investments: primarily improvements in transportation, communications, and energy. Since the late 1960s, the Bank has expanded its activities to include housing, education, credit to farmers, irrigation, and a variety of other projects with more direct effects on inpiduals, particularly the very poor.
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在打造国际货币基金组织的同时，国际复兴与开发银行也成立了。世界银行的使命是成立一种机构，为恢复和进步经济长期提供所需的外汇。世所公认，从海外购买设施是进步经济的一条捷径，但对于一个缺少具体出口产品来换取购买这种设施所需外汇的国家来讲，这是做不到的。世界银行就是通过提供长期资金，尽力加速这种国家的经济进步。
世界银行的出借货币有三项来源。在创办时，它需要各成员国捐款，为之提供资本。每一个成员国都要摊派一宗与其国民生产总值相称的股份。认捐额的百分之十要向银行缴纳现金，其余款项则应在银行需要弥补其财政困难时出货。第二项来源是向私人借款。有百分之九十的认捐额可为银行本身借款担保，银行就有能力与美国政府、第先进的私人公司与其他高级贷款商进行角逐，向社会借款。然后，再把借来的货币贷给贫穷的国家。世界银行就是借助如此的办法，以全体成员国的信用和资源担保，偿还那些借给进步中国家或遭受战争破坏的国家的贷款。假如借款国拖欠不还，银行就尽先用掉各成员国所缴纳的货币，然后再号召大伙捐增更多的款项。第三项货币来源是后来才出现的，即银行的借款国所付来的利息收益。世界银行借助各成员国当初捐款所获得的利息，大体上可以使这类捐款翻一番。
到1976年6月为止，世界银行已向115个国家提供了429亿USD以上的贷款。大多数贷款用于改变基础结构项目，并借以暗暗地鼓励了财政上的投资；主要的改变项目是运输、通讯和能源事业。
60年代后期以来，世界银行一直在扩大它的业务范围，包含了住房建设、教育，农业信贷，水利灌溉与其他种种对个人尤其是对饥寒交迫的人有更大直接效益的项目。
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