Questions in the News
Responses to Questions About IMF Policies and Country Operations
Transparency and governance
Last Updated: July 26, 2007| Question: Could you tell us how many candidacies the board has received for the position of Managing Director and who they are? |
| Answer:
MR. AHMED: As you know, the Executive Board set out both a process and a timetable for this. The timetable is that until the end of August the process for nominations for the Managing Director position is open. As of now, there is one candidate that has been nominated and that is Mr. Dominique Strauss-Khan, and as of now that is the only formal nomination that we have in place.
July 26, 2007 Transcript of a Press Briefing by Masood Ahmed, Director of the External Relations Department, IMF |
| Question: Has the IMF Executive Board taken any additional steps forward on quota and voice reform. Have they considered the recently publicized proposal known as the "filter approach"? |
| Answer:
MR. AHMED: Quota and voice reform is one of the main areas of the Medium Term Strategy on which we are now working, and indeed, as the Managing Director has been stressing on a number of occasions, this is an area where he is personally committed to advancing the discussions as much as possible in the coming weeks. Indeed, there was a discussion in the board on quota and voice reform on July 25, and what is clear from that discussion is that there have been a number of ideas that have been put on the table, a number of proposals and suggestions on how to move forward on the question of defining both a formula for guiding the next round of increases as well as the way in which those increases themselves should take place. Certainly one of the proposals that has been out there has been the one that is being discussed in the context of the G-20 that you referred to, and there are other ideas as well on the table. As a result of the recent discussion, the board has asked the Managing Director to now come forward with a proposal that could then be the basis for moving from what has been a discussion of many options to a proposal around which we can get a broad consensus and support from the membership. The Managing Director will be working on this both here and also abroad during the coming weeks—traveling to various countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe with a view to trying to build consensus and support for the quota and voice reform package. Obviously, in crafting that proposal it is very important to consult as he is doing with the membership because the proposal needs to be one that commands the broad support of the membership, and we are committed to advancing that agenda very much during the coming weeks and in the run-up to the Annual Meetings in October. July 26, 2007 Transcript of a Press Briefing by Masood Ahmed, Director of the External Relations Department, IMF |
| Question: Has the Managing Director given a firm date for his departure, which was recently announced? What are his intentions regarding the reform program that he initiated? |
| Answer:
MR. HAWLEY: Mr. de Rato has announced that he will be leaving after the annual meetings which this year are held in October. Mr. de Rato has said that he intends to pursue the work of the Fund actively in the period before he leaves the IMF. As far as emphases are concerned, I would refer you to the work program of the Executive Board, which has not changed by the announcement of Mr. de Rato's intention to step down. The highlights there would be the ongoing work on reform of the Fund's quotas and voice and of the consideration of a new income model for the Fund, among other things.
July 12, 2007 Transcript of a Press Briefing by David Hawley, Senior Advisor, External Relations Department, IMF |
| Question: Recently, Gordon Brown announced his resignation as head of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC). How does the selection process to replace him actually work? Is that post also traditionally held by a European or is that post open to more countries? Is there a deadline for the selection of the IMFC Chair? Do they need to have one selected by the annual meetings? |
| Answer:
MR. HAWLEY: Just as the Managing Director of the IMF may be selected from any country member of the IMF, so too the Chair of the IMFC can be of any nationality. In terms of procedure, let me remind you that the Board of Governors, which is the membership's highest representative body, says that the Chair of the IMFC is selected to serve for a period as long as the membership determines and in line with the practice for the selection of the Chairman of the IMFC. The process of selecting the Chair begins with consultation among the IMFC members at the level of Executive Director until a consensus emerges on the identity of the IMFC Chair. In all likelihood there will be an IMFC Chair in place by the time of the annual meetings.
July 12, 2007 Transcript of a Press Briefing by David Hawley, Senior Advisor, External Relations Department, IMF |
| Question: What are the Board's or the membership's criteria for transparency in the selection process? And is the traditional format of having a European nominee head the IMF in keeping with this transparency? |
| Answer:
MR. HAWLEY: Recently, the IMF Executive Board made a point of emphasizing that any Executive Director may submit a nomination regardless of the nationality of the nominee, which means that a national of any one of the Fund's 185 members is eligible for the position of Managing Director. The Board has made a point in their statement of proceeding with this decision in an open and transparent manner, and it is in that respect that they issued a statement immediately after their first meeting and intend to continue the practice of keeping people up to date as their discussions first on the selection procedure and then toward identifying a candidate continue.
July 12, 2007 Transcript of a Press Briefing by David Hawley, Senior Advisor, External Relations Department, IMF |
| Question: What are the plans for the IMF Executive Board to discuss issues relating to quotas and voice reform before the Annual Meetings? Will there be an agreement on the new quota formula by the Annual Meetings. |
| Answer:
MR. HAWLEY: As indicated in the work program, there will be at least one formal discussion on quota and voice reform. That implies that there could be others if necessary. Regarding the quota formula, it remains the goal to have a consensus on this issue by the the 2007 Annual Meetings in October or by no later than April, 2008.
June 7, 2007 Transcript of a Press Briefing by David Hawley, Senior Advisor, External Relations Department, IMF |
| Question: Two weeks after the end of the Annual Meetings in Singapore, how you are looking to proceed on the IMF vote reform? How is that going to move ahead now and into the next stage? |
| Answer:
In Singapore we had the overwhelming endorsement of the membership to go forward with the reform program. The next step is to begin to work on the different elements. We want to work on putting together an amendment to the Articles of Agreement that would deal with the increase in basic votes; we want to work on how to strengthen the offices of the Executive Directors that represent those countries; and we want to work on the quota formula that will then guide further increases. Work on all of these is now beginning, and our expectations are to come back in a year's time, by the 2007 Annual Meetings, with enough progress on all of these fronts with a view, again, to take all of these decisions no later than at the 2008 Annual Meetings. The Managing Director will be reporting on progress at the IMFC meetings in the Spring.
In going forward in all these areas, the key for us is that we need to not only do the technical work but, as we did in the six months preceding Singapore, do broad-based consultation with all of the membership, so that whatever proposals we come up with are proposals that have broad support and that will enable us to go forward in the same way that we did in Singapore. So, when we have a work program discussion at the Board in about a month's time, it will lay out specific milestones between now and next Spring.
October 5, 2006 Press Briefing by Masood Ahmed, Director of External Relations, IMF |
| Question: Who will put together the new quota formula? Will you collaborate with experts from outside the Fund? |
| Answer:
In the end, the Managing Director will put forward a proposal, and the Board will consider it. In order to get to that proposal as we have done in the previous phase, we will draw upon all the work that is being done outside and we will be doing work inside. So our view has been that if people are working on this outside and they have perspectives that we can draw on, that is something we would be happy to build on.
October 5, 2006 Press Briefing by Masood Ahmed, Director of External Relations, IMF |
| Question: The Brazilian Economic Minister has said that the current project of reforming the IMF might enhance the majority that the world's leading economies have in the IMF. What assurances do you offer that this is not the case? |
| Answer:
In the discussions that have taken place, the point that has been made by all is that the twin objectives of this reform program are, first of all, to make sure that the relative weight of economies in the world is reflected better in their relative weight in IMF quotas, and that applies to a lot of emerging markets. It applies also to some other advanced countries. So, as we move forward, we need to make sure that that the weight of the economies is reflected better in the IMF quotas.
The other point that is important in this regard is to note that some of the larger advanced economies have already stated publicly that they will not be taking up all of the increases in their potential quotas if their quotas go up under the new formula. That, of course, means that there is more space for other countries to be able to have their quotas go up.
The final point is that the other objective of this program is to make sure that the poorest countries—whose weight in the world economy is small, but where the Fund plays an important role—also have their share in the quotas protected.
That is the agenda that is going forward. In the end, discussions on the formula and where we come out will be something that will be discussed in the Board. But I think the intentions of making the IMF more representative and the quotas in the IMF more reflective of the world economy today are something that everybody has bought into.
October 5, 2006 Press Briefing by Masood Ahmed, Director of External Relations, IMF |
| Question: Quite a few countries didn't allow the publication of the staff reports that were used for the Article IV consultations last year. What is the Fund's position on this? Does the IMF encourage the publication of those reports, and why do you think that countries don't permit that they are brought to the public? |
| Answer:
Yes, we do encourage publication of those reports. Indeed, the whole history of transparency of our documentation is that more and more country and policy documents are being published. If you look at the numbers, I think that there certainly has been an enormous transformation from 10 years ago when virtually nothing was published to now, when something like 80 to 85 percent s are published. I think there is also, year to year, an improvement in the numbers that are getting published.
In terms of why countries don't allow documents to be published, in the end, it is important that we do need their consent to publish these documents. In some cases, countries aren't yet as comfortable with making that information public, but the general assumption and the general trend has been to move toward more and more publication.
October 5, 2006 Press Briefing by Masood Ahmed, Director of External Relations, IMF |
| Question: How confident is the IMF of getting an agreement on quotas in Singapore and what would be the mechanics of this agreement? |
| Answer:
We are very confident that the broad support that was manifested in the August 23 Executive Board discussion, which resulted in the Board sending forward the resolution to Governors, will similarly come through when Governors look at it, and we are very hopeful that we will be able to get the kind of broad support that will ensure that the quota and governance reform program is adopted. We have asked Governors for their vote on it with a closing time on September 18 at 4:00 p.m. in Singapore. So there won't be a need for a vote in the plenary because that will already have taken place. The exact requirement is that 85 percent of the votes have to be in favor of the resolution. That is what we need, and that is what we hope and expect to get.
September 7, 2006 Press Briefing by Masood Ahmed, Director of External Relations, IMF |
| Question: Can you tell us more about the Managing Director's proposals on quotas and voice? |
| Answer:
What the Managing Director is proposing is to present at the Annual Meetings in Singapore a two-year program of action, which will result in a substantive modernization of the governance of the Fund. It will likely include immediate increases in the quota of a few of the clearly most under-represented countries. That will take place immediately after the Singapore meetings.
He would also like the membership at Singapore to agree upon a set of measures that would be implemented over the next two years or so. That set of measures would include perhaps a further round of increases for other countries after a review of the formula that is used to calculate the economic weight of countries, which would then be used for this subsequent round of increases. In addition to these measures aimed at ensuring that countries' quotas are better aligned with their relative economic weights in the world economy, he would like to see a set of measures that would enhance the reputation and voice of low-income and small economies where the Fund has an active role. He thinks the most sensible way to do this would be by increasing the basic votes, which are the common votes that all countries have.
All of this was laid out in the Managing Directors August 3 speech in Tokyo.
August 3, 2006 Press Briefing by Masood Ahmed, Director of External Relations, IMF |
| Question: Is there already a short list of the countries whose quotas might be increased in the first phase of the strategic review proposed by the Managing Director? |
| Answer:
There is no short list of countries because the process of how we're going to move forward on the discussion of quotas and voice is only just starting. As you know, the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) asked the Managing Director, in consultation with the Executive Board and with the IMFC, to come forward with concrete proposals for agreement in September. Precisely how it will go forward if there are ad hoc increases, which countries would be the ones that would be part of that phase of ad hoc increases, what increases they would get, is work that has yet to be done. May 18, 2006 Press Briefing by Masood Ahmed, Director of External Relations, IMF |
| Question: In your Medium-Term Strategy, you mention the question of quotas and representation. As the voting shares of some countries do not accurately reflect the size of their economies, you call for an increase in voting power in some of the emerging market economies. How do you suggest this should be done? |
| Answer:
We are in the process of the Thirteenth Review of Quotas, so there is a good chance that there will be a decision about a general increase in quotas or some ad hoc adjustment. We have already had a very important informal Board discussion on this issue. I will be working with the staff to propose alternatives to the Board. The review of quotas is a decision that has to be taken by a large majority of the constituencies, so we will need a very broad consensus. That consensus was achieved last in 1998. That means that it is possible, but it does not happen every year. I think there is merit in it. I think the strength and the legitimacy of the institution will be enhanced by solving its own problems and that will help and will be of value for every member of the institution.
September 22, 2005 Press Conference by Rodrigo de Rato, IMF Managing Director |
| Transparency and governance : archived questions and answers |