WB to Further Expand Voting Power of Developing Countries

World Bank's Chief Economist and Senior Vice President Justin Yifu Lin said Monday reforms of the bank's voting processes will give developing countries an equal say with developed nation members.

"The goal of the WB's future reforms is to further expand the voting power of developing countries," Lin told Xinhua on the sidelines of a seminar marking the 30th anniversary of China-WB partnership.

In April, an agreement was reached among the WB members to increase the voting share of emerging and developing countries by 3.13 percent to the current total of 47.19 percent.

China became the WB's third biggest shareholder as a result of the agreement which increased the country's share from 2.77 percent to 4.42 percent and put it behind that of the United States and Japan, which hold 15.85 percent and 6.84 percent, respectively.

Lin said the bank would continue reforms until voting powers were split 50:50 between developing and developed nations, but he gave no timetable.

Currently, leaders of major international institutions mainly came from developed countries. "We will change this situation through reforms and make sure leaders are selected on the basis of capability," Lin said.

"The WB is working in this direction. We have had more and more people from developing nations hired as senior officials in the past several years," said Lin, a Chinese economist who was promoted to his current post in 2008.

(Xinhua News Agency September 14, 2010)