The President of Côte d’Ivoire Alassane Ouattara called on Monday, May 10, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for better representativeness of African countries within the institution, as well as more flexibility regarding their budget deficit.
The leader, who has held various positions within the Fund, recalled that in 1945, when the Bretton Woods institutions were created, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Africa were the first African countries to be. become members.
“It was not until the 1990s that all African countries were represented there”, he added during a virtual conversation with the Managing Director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, on the occasion of the sixty years of the African department that Mr. Ouattara headed from 1984 to 1988.
“However, forty-six countries in sub-Saharan Africa are represented by only two chairs on the IMF board with a voting power of 7.09%”, he lamented. “This observation shows that a lot of work remains to be done to improve the representativeness of the African continent in the Monetary Fund”, he stressed. According to him, the revision of quotas must be “An important item on the agenda for African countries”.
“Better face the pandemic”
The Ivorian president also stressed the need to show flexibility in terms of budget deficit. “Without calling into question the sustainability of public debt and the solidity of the macroeconomic framework, which is the top priority”.
Mr. Ouattara was an economist at the Fund from 1968 to 1973, before heading the Africa department, then becoming advisor to the director general from 1987. He was also deputy director from July 1994 to July 1999.
“A few more decimal places on the budget deficit compared to the GDP would allow many countries to better face the pandemic, to finance the urgent expenditure of the fight against terrorism and to build in the medium term solid bases of peace for their development”, he argued.
Mr. Ouattara stressed that the important thing is that the resources are well spent. Citing the example of his country, bordering Burkina Faso and Mali facing terrorism, he indicated that the government would devote this year 1% of the GDP “To ensure that these terrorists cannot enter Côte d’Ivoire”.
It is not a regional problem but a global one, it concerns ” all countries “, “All peoples”, “We therefore need solidarity and understanding”, he justified. The president said he intended to put this issue on the table for discussions at the summit scheduled for Paris on May 18.
For her part, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva assured that the Fund was ready to show more flexibility. ” short term “, if only so as not to jeopardize the recovery in Africa.