Austria and International Financial Institutions

International Financial Institutions (IFIs), in particular, Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), which includes the World Bank Group, the African Development Bank Group, the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Inter-American Development Bank as well as the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the Global Environmental Facility, are of great importance to Austria. Thus, Austria is a shareholder of these institutions and has been a founding member in some of them. MDBs play a crucial role in attaining the Sustainable Development Goals and the Agenda 2030. Austria is also committed to these institutions because their development policy goals overlap with Austrian economic interests.

Strategic Guidelines for IFIs

The Federal Ministry of Finance’s strategic guideline for the International Financial Institutions represents Austrian interests and objectives in general and in the respective International Financial Institutions. On the one hand, it provides guidance for our Austrian representatives in the management positions of the international financial institutions and, on the other hand, serves as information for the public interested in development policies.

Austrian Representation on the Boards of Governors

Austria is represented by the Federal Minister of Finance on the boards of governors of the listed international financial institutions.

Vienna´s World Bank Office

With the financial support from Austria’s Federal Ministry of Finance, the World Bank Group has been able to expand and secure its presence in Vienna. Since 2007, several units of the institution have been operating from the Vienna location, with Eastern and South-Eastern Europe (especially the Western Balkans) and Central Asia being the focus regions of the Vienna World Bank Office’s activities.

The following notable World Bank programs have been managed out of Vienna for several years: The Facility for Investment Climate Advisory Services (FIAS), the Financial Sector Advisory Center (FinSAC), the Center for Financial Reporting Reform (CFRR) and the Danube Water Program (DWP). In 2013, the management of the World Bank’s program in Southeast Europe (Country Directorate for Southeast Europe) was decentralized to Vienna, allowing it to take full advantage of the proximity to client countries ever since. In 2017, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, opened an operational branch in Vienna, which primarily manages programs in the areas of climate-relevant urban development, green infrastructure and green finance in the above-mentioned priority regions. Since autumn 2019, a small branch of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been established as a regional office for the Western Balkans at the same location.