Shares & Voting Power

As a member country in all five agencies of the World Bank Group, the Netherlands holds shares in each. Every shareholder is allocated a certain number of votes linked to the size of its shareholding. The votes include a specified number of membership votes (which is the same for all members) and additional votes based on the number of shares held. The number of votes of a member expressed as a percentage of the total number of votes held by all shareholders is the member’s voting power. The Netherlands' shareholding in the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the middle-income lending arm of the World Bank Group, is shown in the table.

The International Development Association (IDA) is the part of the World Bank that has provided interest-free loans and grants to the poorest countries since 1960. Unlike the IBRD, which raises most of its funds on the financial markets, IDA is funded largely by contributions from the governments of the richer member countries, and to a lesser extent from IBRD's income and repayments of earlier IDA credits. Since IDA resources must be periodically replenished, donors get together every three years. Each of the replenishments is known by a number. The most recent replenishment, IDA14, which began in 2005, will finance projects over the three-year period ending June 30, 2008.

For a detailed overview of the shares and voting power of the Netherlands on the Executive Board, click here. For a full overview of shares and voting powers for all 184 members, click here.