Africa poised to get third seat on their executive boards

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are gathering in Morocco, weeks after a powerful earthquake killed nearly 3,000 people and threatened to derail the event to commence their meeting held on African soil in 50 years.

“A prosperous world economy in the 21st century requires a prosperous Africa,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a speech in Abidjan last week. In a symbolic move, the IMF and World Bank are poised to give Africa a third seat on their executive boards, which Georgieva said would give the continent a “stronger voice”.

However, the thorniest issues revolve around money as developing economies strive to deal with recent global shocks, such as the COVID pandemic, widespread disasters and rising energy and food costs spurred by the war in Ukraine.

The main contributors are not in favour of a capital increase as it would force them to put up more funds and would give greater influence to emerging powers such as China and India.

The World Bank, however, is expected to confirm plans to boost lending by $50bn over the next decade through balance sheet changes. World Bank President Ajay Banga wants to go even further and raise capacity by $100bn or as much as $125bn through contributions from advanced economies. (www.aljazeera.com)

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