Press Release No. 07/181

Press Release: Statement by IMF African Consultative Group

August 20, 2007

The African Consultative Group¹ of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), co-chaired by the Chairman of the African Caucus, Mr. Manuel Chang, Minister of Finance of Mozambique, and Mr. Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director of the IMF, met today in Maputo, Mozambique. At the conclusion of their meeting, they issued the following statement:

"The purpose of the meeting was to exchange views on the progress to date on IMF reforms, in particular on the consensus and support needed for reforms aimed at improving voice and governance of the Fund.

"Our discussions focused on the importance of advancing the quota and voice reform agenda that was endorsed by the IMF's membership in Singapore last September. The reform has two equally important objectives—to make significant progress in realigning quota shares with members' relative positions in the world economy and to enhance the participation and voice of low-income countries in the IMF. We agreed that we were at a critical stage in the quota and voice reform process and that we need to make as much progress as possible on this issue in the coming months to ensure the IMF's credibility and effectiveness.

"We reaffirmed our commitment to ensuring that Africa is positioned to participate effectively in the governance of the Fund, especially given the Fund's important advisory and financing role in the region. The African Governors stressed the need to protect and even increase the voting share of low-income countries as a group, and called for an amendment of the Articles of Agreement providing for a significant increase in basic votes to help achieve this objective.

"The African Governors also underlined the need for a further strengthening of the capacity in the Executive Directors' offices for African countries, and called for early consideration of an amendment of the Articles of Agreement that would enable each Executive Director elected by a large number of members to appoint more than one Alternate Executive Director. We agreed on the importance of diversity within the Fund through increased representation of African staff, both to reflect Africa's importance within the Fund and ensure an African perspective in the Fund's work. The African Governors stressed that time is ripe for tangible measures to promote diversity, including at the highest managerial level.

"The Managing Director reiterated the priority and commitment he attached to advancing the agenda for governance reforms during the remainder of his time in office. He stressed the need for flexibility and compromise from all members in order to make progress on the key elements of the reform package. The Managing Director reaffirmed the Fund's commitment to assisting low-income countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals, and ensuring that, as part of the reforms, low-income member countries have an important role and voice in the governance of the Fund.

"We also discussed the status of work on developing a new income model for the IMF and the African Governors agreed on the importance of ensuring that the IMF has the necessary resources to fulfill its mandate, including public goods such as surveillance and technical assistance. The African Governors reemphasized their opposition to charging for technical assistance.

"The Managing Director also appealed to the Governors for their support in addressing Liberia's unsustainable external debt and sustaining its recovery and reconstruction efforts. He stressed the urgency of mobilizing the necessary financing to enable Liberia to clear its arrears to the IMF and benefit from debt relief expeditiously."

The following African Governors attended:

Manuel Chang, Chairman, Mozambique
Paul Antoine Bohoun-Bouabr&eactue;, Côte d'Ivoire
Ousmane Kane, Mauritania
Trevor Manuel, South Africa
Athanase Matenda, Democratic Republic of Congo
Timothy Thahane, Lesotho
Shamsuddeen Usman, Nigeria
Pacific Issoibeka, Republic of Congo

¹ The African Consultative Group is designed to ensure greater consultation between Management and the African Governors.