Executive Function

As the Boards of Executive Directors is resident at Washington, D.C., they function in continuous session at the Bank. Regular meetings are usually held once or twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Other meetings are held whenever the Bank's business requires.

The Executive Directors are responsible for the conduct of the general operations of the Bank and exercise all the powers delegated to them by the Board of Governors under the Articles of Agreement. The Executive Directors select a President who serves as Chairman of the Boards.

Bank’s business requires Executive Directors consider and decide the proposals made by the President on: IBRD loans and guarantees, IDA credits and grants, IFC investments, MIGA guarantees; and decide on policies that impact the World Bank's general operations. The Executive Directors are also responsible for presenting to the Board of Governors, at the Annual Meetings, an audit of accounts, an administrative budget, and an annual report on the Bank's operations and policies as well as other matters. In shaping Bank policy, the Board of Executive Directors takes into account the evolving perspectives of member countries on the role of the Bank Group as well as the Bank's operational experience.

The Executive Directors have a dual responsibility, as they represent the interests and concerns of their country or group of countries to the Boards and the Bank’s management, as well as the interests and concerns of the Bank to the country or group of countries that appointed or elected them.

One of the most important and unusual powers given to the Executive Directors by the Articles is the power to interpret the Articles. Interpretations by the Executive Directors, unless overruled by the Board of Governors, are binding on Bank member countries. The Executive Directors frequently made use of this power in the early years of the Bank, but no specific interpretation has been made since July 1964 with the single exception of an “interpretation” issued in October 1986 in respect of the valuation of the Bank’s capital. Otherwise, the Executive Directors often agree on the tacit interpretation of the Articles by accepting their application in a certain way or by concurring with the interpretation submitted to them by the General Counsel of the Bank.