The IDB prioritizes social inclusion and equality; productivity and innovation; and regional economic integration in its development work across Latin America and the Caribbean. In doing so, it addresses the cross-cutting issues of gender equality and diversity; climate change and environmental sustainability; and institutional capacity and the rule of law.
Learn more about the Institutional Strategy here.
Governance of the IDB is vested in the Board of Governors, which tops the organizational structure of the Bank. Each member country appoints a Governor, whose voting power is proportional to the capital in the Bank subscribed by his or her country. Governors are usually ministers of finance, presidents of central banks or other high-ranking officials.
The Board of Governors holds an annual meeting in March or April of each year to review the Bank's operations and make major policy decisions. It may also hold extraordinary meetings on key issues. Their decisions are reflected in the list of Approved Resolutions of the Board of Governors.
The IDB's Governors are ultimately responsible for overseeing the Bank's activities and administration, although in practice, they delegate many of those responsibilities to the Board of Executive Directors.
The Board of Executive Directors is responsible for the conduct of the operations of the Bank and for this purpose may exercise all the powers delegated by the Board of Governors. The Board of Executive Directors usually meets once a week and, among other duties, is responsible for approving loan and guarantee proposals, policies, country strategies, the administrative budget, setting interest rates, and making decisions on borrowings and other financial matters.
The Board of Executive Directors is composed of 14 Executive Directors representing 48 member countries and also includes 14 Alternates, who have full power to act when their principals are absent.
The Board of Executive Directors has five Standing Committees that review and discuss documents. This task of the Committees is based on an Annual Work Program. All fourteen Chairs of the Board of Executive Directors are members of each of the Standing Committees.
The work of the Board of Executive Directors is guided by the Regulations of the Board of Executive Directors, the Code of Conduct of the Board of Executive Directors and the Consolidated Procedures and Terms of Reference of the Standing Committees.
In accordance with the Access to Information Policy, effective 1 January 2011, the Bank makes public the following records of the Board of Executive Directors:
The President of the IDB is the institution's legal representative and chief executive officer. He is responsible for the Bank’s day-to-day business and manages its operations and administration with the assistance of the staff of the Office of the Presidency.
The President, who is elected by the Board of Governors, chairs the meetings of the Board of Executive Directors but has no vote, except to break a tie.
The President also makes proposals on the general policy of the Bank for consideration by the Board.
| President | Mauricio Claver-Carone |
| Executive Vice President | Reina Irene Mejía Chacón |
| Vice President for Countries | Richard Martínez Alvarado |
| Vice President for Sectors and Knowledge | Benigno López Benítez |
| Vice President for Finance and Administration, Chief Financial Officer and General Manager of the Finance Department | Gustavo De Rosa |
| Chief of Staff and Chief Strategy Officer | Jessica L. Bedoya |
| Executive Advisor, Office of the President, and Secretary of the Bank | Marlon Tábora Muñoz |
| Chief Advisor of the Office of the Executive Vice President | José Jorge Seligmann Silva |
| Ethics Officer | Alberto Rivera-Fournier |
| Executive Auditor | Jorge da Silva |
| Chief, Office of Institutional Integrity | Laura Profeta |
| Manager, Office of Outreach and Partnerships | Bernardo Guillamon |
| Manager, Office of Strategic Planning and Development Effectiveness | Hugo R. Flórez Timorán |
| Chief Risk Officer | Federico Galizia |
| Chief Executive Officer, IDB Lab | Irene Arias Hofman |
| General Manager, Country Department Southern Cone, and Country Representative in Chile | María Florencia Attademo-Hirt |
| Manager, Andean Country Group | Tomás Bermúdez |
| General Manager a.i., Country Department Caribbean Group | Carmen María Madriz |
| General Manager, Country Department Central America, Haiti, Mexico, Panama, and the Dominican Republic, and Country Representative in Costa Rica | Fernando Quevedo |
| Chief Economist and General Manager of the Research Department | Eric Parrado Herrera |
| Manager, Social Sector | Ferdinando Regalía |
| Manager, Infrastructure and Energy Sector | Rigoberto Ariel Yépez-García |
| Manager, Institutions for Development | Susana Cordeiro Guerra |
| Manager, Climate Change and Sustainable Development Sector | Juan Pablo Bonilla |
| Manager, Knowledge, Innovation and Communication Sector | Federico Basañes |
| Manager, Integration and Trade Sector | Fabrizio Opertti |
| General Counsel and General Manager, Legal Department | John Scott |
| General Manager, Human Resources Department | Carolina Serra |
| Chief Information Officer and General Manager, Department of Information Technology | Jean-Michel Baudoin |
| General Manager, Budget and Administrative Services Department | Diego Murguiondo |
| Argentina* ^ | Ecuador* ^ | Nicaragua* ^ |
| Austria* | El Salvador* ^ | Norway* |
| Bahamas* ^ | Finland* | Panama* ^ |
| Barbados* ^ | France*^ | Paraguay* ^ |
| Belgium* | Germany* | Peru* ^ |
| Belize* ^ | Guatemala* ^ | Portugal*^ |
| Bolivia* ^ | Guyana* ^ | Slovenia |
| Brazil* ^ | Haiti*^ | Spain* ^ |
| Canada^ | Honduras* ^ | Suriname*^ |
| Chile* ^ | Israel* | Sweden*^ |
| China, People's Republic of* ^ | Italy* ^ | Switzerland*^ |
| Colombia* ^ | Jamaica* ^ | Trinidad and Tobago* ^ |
| Costa Rica* ^ | Japan* ^ | United Kingdom ^ |
| Croatia | Korea, Republic of* ^ | United States* ^ |
| Denmark* | Mexico* ^ | Uruguay* ^ |
| Dominican Republic* ^ | Netherlands* ^ | Venezuela* ^ |
| --------------------------------- | ||
| * Member of the Inter-American Investment Corporation | ||
| ^ Member of the Multilateral Investment Fund | ||
Non-Borrowing Member Countries
The IDB was founded in 1959 as a partnership between 19 Latin American countries and the United States. The original member countries were Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela and the United States.
Over the next several decades, the Bank expanded its membership, initially through the Western Hemisphere. Trinidad and Tobago became a member in 1967, to be soon joined by Barbados (1969), Jamaica (1969), Canada (1972), Guyana (1976), The Bahamas (1977) and Suriname (1980). The 22 non-regional or non-Western Hemisphere member countries, consisting of 16 European states plus Israel and Japan, joined between 1976 and 1986. Belize became a member in 1992 and Croatia and Slovenia joined as successor states of Yugoslavia in 1993. The Republic of Korea became a member country in 2005 and the People's Republic of China became a member country in 2009.
Cuba signed but did not ratify the Agreement Establishing the Bank, the institution’s charter, so it has not become a member.
Today the IDB is owned by 48 member states, of which 26 are borrowing members in Latin America and the Caribbean. Each member country's voting power is based on its subscription to the institution's Ordinary Capital (OC) resources.
To become a regional member, a country needs prior membership to the Organization of the American States. To become a nonregional member, a country needs to be a member of the International Monetary Fund. A second basic requirement in both cases is the subscription of shares of the Ordinary Capital and contribution to the Fund for Special Operations.