Leading African finance ministers have thrown their weight behind calls for a fundamental change in the balance of power at the World Bank and the IMF but also expressed doubts that there will be movement on the issue when finance chiefs meet this weekend.
Nigeria's Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in an exclusive interview with Emerging Markets made a call for improved representation of developing countries at the Bretton Woods institutions.
'Why is it that developing countries donÕt have a stronger voice so that they can say exactly what they want to be done?' she said.
'We are very disappointed that there is little or no movement on the voice issue. How can we be talking about increased democracy in our institutions and yet there is a definite demographic deficit on the issue of voice?'
Okonjo-Iweala's comments were backed up by South Africa's finance minister Trevor Manuel in an interview yesterday with Emerging Markets. He said that the current representation of poor countries at the IMF is 'untenable'.
'My submission remains that it is very, very important to try and improve the representation of the world's poorest countries. The IMF is a creditor union and must serve its members in proportion of their needs,' he said.
The ministers' comments follow unprecedented petitions from leading developing nations for institutional reform.
Okonjo-Iweala said that the marginalization of the 'voice' issue means that democracy will continue to elude the World Bank and IMF. Neither minister expected any development on the topic this weekend.
Okonjo-Iweala said she did not understand why the discussion is 'stuck where it is'. 'There needs to be a rearrangement of the balance of power in some way, and right now there does not seem to be much traction there,' she stated.
'The change would need some people to give up something so that others can get something,' the minister pointed out. 'And if those who need to do some giving up are not willing, then you're not going to get much movement.'
African executive directors at the Bank and the Fund who each have to represent more than 40 countries have received some additional resources over the past years, the minister acknowledged.
ÒBut we have to get to the real issue of what happens with IMF quotas and the share of the basic vote, which has declined from 11% to 2.3%. This means that the poorer countries do not have the kind of clout that they used to have,' Okonjo-Iweala emphasized.
IMF members receive 250 basic votes each, with additional votes according to their share of the IMF quota. Successive general increases in quotas have reduced the share of basic votes to 2% from 11.3% in 1945.
Okonjo-Iweala's comments come at a time of increased tension in Nigeria's main oil producing region, the Niger Delta. Both Chevron and Shell had to close flow stations there this week, as an armed insurgency following the arrest of Moujahid Dokubo-Asari, leader of the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force, gathered strength.
'The people in the Niger Delta have a right to complain because, over time, social capital has been destroyed,' Okonjo-Iweala said. 'Trust of the government and oil companies has broken down, because of long years in which issues were not attended to.
'But you must separate the genuine complaints of the population from the actions of thugs. What you have is a bunch of thugs that is trying to extract things out of oil companies and the government.'