The 'voice' campaign for reform of the World Bank is 'stuck', according to Hilary Benn, UK Secretary of State for International Development. Giving evidence to the International Development Committee of the British Parliament, Benn said that structural reform of the Bank was now unlikely to move forward, following the lack of consensus displayed at last month's Annual Meetings.
Jeff Powell of the Bretton-Woods Institute, addressing the same committee, said that the campaign for democratization of the IFI's, led by South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, had failed. 'The torch has now been passed on to the IMF, on whom there is much more pressure because of the institution's crisis of confidence and legitimacy', he argued.
Powell also stressed the importance of 'delinking' governance reform of each institution. 'Each institution needs to be reformed separately. Moreover, the different functions within the institutions need to be delinked, so that the IDA and IBRD, for instance, can be reformed in different ways in order to enhance accountability and democratic participation.'
The G20 recently issued a call for renewed efforts toward IMF reform. "The G20 underscores the critical importance of achieving concrete progress on quota reform by the next International Monetary Fund and World Bank Meetings in Singapore," it said at the conclusion of last weekend's meeting in China.