Development Finance at a Crossroads: BRICS Challenge to Western-led Economic Order

A person walks past a sign announcing the International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group annual meetings in Washington, DC on October 21, 2024. Mandel NGAN / AFP

We’re going to see two starkly contrasting visions of the current international economic order this week when leaders from nearly two dozen developing countries gather in Russia for a BRICS summit while the development finance elite meet in Washington for the IMF-World Bank’s annual meeting.

On one side is a 13-year-old upstart bloc seething with grievance over the gross inequities in the Western-led financial system, while the other is an 80-year-old set of institutions that once ruled the commanding heights of development finance but struggle to stay relevant today.

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by Eric Olander

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