Summary: As mandated by the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1995, GAO reviewed the salaries and benefits of employees of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The Bank and Fund employ more than 12,000 professional and support staff, most of whom are located in Washington, D.C. Designing and implementing a compensation system for an international organization is a complex undertaking, calling for compromise among member countries on numerous issues. Compensation policy at the Bank and the Fund has been a subject of controversy for many years. The United States has advocated a conservative policy in setting pay and benefits levels while other countries have supported more generous compensation practices. In setting pay and benefit levels, GAO found the Bank and the Fund rely most heavily on the prevailing practices in large private companies in the United States, Germany and France. The system generates relatively high rates of pay, and benefits commensurate with average levels in the surveyed markets. Excluding salaries of highest level management, the average net-of- tax salary among Bank and Fund professionals is about $86,000.
