Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Thursday, October 25, 2007

IMF legitimacy

IMF counters claims of western dominance with promise to give poor more votes

"The International Monetary Fund yesterday sought to respond to anger in developing countries at the institution's dominance by rich western nations by promising an increase in voting rights for the world's poorest nations.

"Admitting that the IMF had to 'address the issue of its own legitimacy', its outgoing managing director, Rodrigo de Rato, said the package of reforms would go beyond the deal struck in Singapore a year ago. He said that the changes would see a shift in power to the bigger emerging countries while an increase in the basic votes - the votes that each of the fund's members have regardless of their size would ensure that the least developed nations did not lose out...

"Aid agencies said, however, that the reforms needed to go much further.

"Elizabeth Stuart, senior policy adviser for Oxfam International... said that even quadrupling the basic vote would not mean any effective increase in the say that the poorest countries have over the running of the IMF, which has been controlled by the US and Europe since it was founded in 1944..."


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