CAPE TOWN, April 11 (AFP) - South Africa will press for greater representation for developing countries in the IMF and World Bank at meetings of the two organisations in Washington this week, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said Tuesday.
He told a press conference here the government would raise at the meetings the "cosy relationship" between developed countries and the International Monetary Fund and its sister organisation, the World Bank.
Manuel was particularly concerned about the dominance of the United States and Europe in the decision-making in the two institutions.
"The structure and operations of the Fund and the Bank are unsuited to the global economy in the year 2000," he said.
"The poor countries are completely ignored, it is wrong for this very cosy agreement to exclude the majority of the world's people."
Manuel referred to the unanimous election last month of Germany's Horst Koehler as the IMF's new managing director, and the United States' presidency of the World Bank in James Wolfensohn.
The United States and Europe also controlled the lion's share of voting power in the IMF, thereby ensuring their agreement was necessary to change policy, he said.
The United States holds 18 percent of the IMF vote, with Europe controlling 22 percent. In contrast, South Africa has a 0.88 percent shareholding in the IMF.
Manuel said the power of the developed countries over the IMF and the World Bank "weakens the voice of the poorer countries" -- the very countries the institutions were supposed to benefit.
The minister said South Africa would continue to campaign for the write-off of some Third-World debt.
He said the recent decision of the Paris Club of western donor countries merely to defer Mozambique's debt repayments by one year was "quite unsatisfactory."
Manuel said some 15,000 demonstrators were expected to protest at the meetings in Washington to demand debt relief for Third World countries.
"I have some sympathy (for the demonstrators) ... but we have a responsibility towards developing countries," he said. "You will probably see us crossing picket lines.":
