Roundup: New challenges await IMF, World Bank in Lima

With the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual meetings set to kick off in Lima on Tuesday, central banks' governors and finance ministers from 188 countries and regions were descending on Peru.

Development issues and economic conditions in China and the United States will be the focus of the annual meetings on Oct. 5-11, Peruvian Economic Minister Alonso Segura said on Saturday, adding that changes in the development mode in China and a potential interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) will be the top issues during the meetings.

On the other hand, the choice of Lima as the host city is actually quite prominent, as it shows Latin America has emerged as a regional bloc.

Mexico is rising as a manufacturing hub with its low wages, and access to the United States and a great number of free-trade agreements.

Cuba has restored its relations with the United States at last, though Brazil, the largest economy in the continent, remains mired in economic torpor.

The drop in mineral prices has made such countries as Peru and Chile worry and scramble to diversify exports besides copper and silver.

These factors lend the meetings a very particular backdrop. While choosing to host them in Lima was a gesture toward Latin America, the issue of voting rights has not been addressed.

Long accused of being undemocratic, the IMF has set a deadline by the end of the year for reforming its governance mechanism.

An IMF board meeting in November will decide whether to add Chinese Renminbi or yuan to the IMF's currency basket, known as Special Drawing Rights (SDR), which is composed of the U.S. dollar, the pound, the euro and yen.

With Christine Lagarde's term as IMF managing director coming to an end in 2016, these would be major areas where she can cement her legacy.

Meanwhile, a common thread that will run throughout these meetings is the path of development that Latin America must now embark on.

It is hoped that during the meetings, the panels devoted to its labor market, institutions, youth engagement, financial strategies and role in the global economy will provide a complete picture about how Latin America stands in its own eyes and those of the world.

Coming on the heels of a UN General Assembly which adopted its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the meetings will help Latin America lay out strategies to meet these goals.

In September 2014, Latin America was praised by the UN for completing one of the Millennium Development Goals -- combating hunger.

With this success in mind and a renewed sense of purpose, the World Bank and IMF annual meetings will show how Latin America will approach the stringent SDGs to be met by 2030.

The decisions made during this week's meetings in Lima and any changes to the voting make-up of the IMF and World Bank will have lasting repercussions on the region. Endi