Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 36: To ask the Minister for Finance if, in the context of the international financial crisis, it has been considered to use an instrument mooted at the time of the establishment of the Bretton Woods institutions, the International Financial Corporation, in order to seek an international system of some control and regulation. [34195/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I assume the Deputy is referring to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) which is a longstanding component of the World Bank group and was established in 1956, some 12 years after the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944. I am informed that the role of the IFC is to foster sustainable economic growth in developing countries by financing private sector investment, mobilising capital in the international financial markets, and providing advisory services to businesses and governments.

The question as to whether or not the IFC has a role to play in relation to the international financial markets situation is a matter for that body and the World Bank to consider in the first instance.

As the Deputy will be aware the annual meetings of the Bretton Woods Institutions took place last weekend. Communiqués from those meetings are available on the websites www.imf.org and www.worldbank.org.