SA urges urgent reform of global financial institutions

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Pretoria - South Africa has reiterated its call for a better representivity of developing countries, especially Africa on global financial bodies.

"The transformation we are calling for is likely to improve the financial and economic conditions of developing countries," Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe told MPs during his response to Parliamentary questions on Wednesday.

He said the transformation referred directly to the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, known as Bretton Woods' institutions.

The developing world has also been calling for urgent reform of these institutions, including their mandate, scope, governance and responsiveness.

For South Africa, Motlanthe said the transformation of these Bretton Woods' institutions must entail the review of the quota shares and improve the governance systems to enhance the voice of developing countries.

Breaking down this, he said, a review would give developing countries more voting power and additional resources.

On improving governance, he said, the aim in this regard was to increase representation of developing countries and increase diversity at management and staff levels.

Motlanthe told the National Assembly that this gives developing countries an opportunity to exercise greater influence on global economic, financial and development governance.