UPSC Prelims 2025, Question 67

The answer: I and III only

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development was set up at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference and began lending in 1946, with its original mandate being the reconstruction of Europe after the Second World War before it broadened into development finance for poorer nations. This confirms the statement on its founding purpose. On lending, the IBRD extends loans and guarantees mainly to creditworthy middle income countries, at near market terms, while its sister arm, the International Development Association, handles concessional lending to the poorest countries. This confirms the statement on its lending base. The claim that it works single-handedly is false because the IBRD is only one of five institutions in the World Bank Group and operates alongside the IMF, IDA, IFC, MIGA and other bilateral and multilateral partners to reduce poverty, never acting alone. Hence only the statements on lending to middle income countries and post-war European reconstruction are correct.

The option-by-option autopsy for this question — why each of the other three is wrong, and which neighbouring concept each one was built from — is in the app.