This year, David Miliband wrote that World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) summits “have little of the drama of peace negotiations” but that “for the poorest people in the world, the decisions made at these meetings are matters of life and death.”

Miliband’s words hold true as the institutions prepare for their annual meetings in Washington this week. As two finance experts recently put it, nearly 80 countries are at risk of or in debt distress, and “one global institution is absolutely crucial to making debt relief viable in the short term: the IMF.” Meanwhile, global poverty reduction—the World Bank’s stated goal—has stalled amid the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts, and low growth.

This edition of Flash Points features essential reads on the twin Bretton Woods institutions, with suggestions for possible paths to reform, ahead of this week’s meetings.

A direction sign outside the IMF headquarters for the annual Spring Meetings in Washington on April 15.Alex Wong/Getty Images

The IMF Has Lost Its Way

Andrés Arauz and Ivana Vasic-Lalovic have five ideas for getting it back on track.

People reach for free food being distributed in New Delhi on Feb. 16, 2011. Manan Vatsyayana/AFP via Getty Images

The World Bank Is Failing and Needs a Restart

Global poverty and income divergence are set to rise again—a brutal indictment of the institution’s work, Paul Collier writes.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva speaks during a briefing on the global policy agenda at IMF headquarters during the spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington, D.C., on April 18.Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

African Lending Needs a Better World Bank

The Bretton Woods institutions are due a revamp from their colonial roots, Hannah Ryder writes.

The Bank of China Tower, Three Garden Road and the Cheung Kong Centre in the business district of Hong Kong on May 14. Dale de la Rey/AFP

Solving the Global Fiscal Policy Trilemma

Governments everywhere are facing a seemingly impossible choice, Vitor Gaspar writes.

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness (center) and Finance Minister Nigel Clarke (far left) attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Sandals Dunn’s River resort in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, on May 19, 2023.John Parra/Getty Images for Sandals Resorts

Jamaica’s IMF Success Story

How the Caribbean country went from “rock bottom” to poster child for the fund, according to FP’s Catherine Osborn.