Monitoring Policy Making at the United Nations |
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Voting Share at the IMF and the World Bank 2000
June, 2000
Member states of the IMF and the World Bank arrive at decisions by voting systems which roughly represent their share of the world GDP. They carry ultimate decision-making power in the organizations just as shareholders do in large corporations. As a result, many developing countries complain about the IMF and the World Bank as being the "rich men's club". Even Japan complains about Asian under-representation in the management boards despite their increasing role in the international economy. In this chart, we can see that the US has roughly 17% of vote shares while a vast majority of developing countries have no more than 2%.
(Compiled by Anthony Mak, GPF Associate) Data Source: The World Bank, The IMF
* IMF: International Monetary Fund
IBRD: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
IDA: International Development Association
IFC: International Finance Corporation
MIGA: Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency* The World Bank group is founded in 1944. It consists of five closely associated institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD); International Development Association (IDA), International Finance Corporation (IFC); Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). James D. Wolfensohn is the President of the five institutions in 2000.
1The Group of Twenty (G20) was created on September 25, 1999. This new international forum of finance ministers and central bank governors represents 19 countries, the European Union and the Bretton Woods Institutions (the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank).
2Total voting shares of the 15 member states of the European Union: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
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