Prime Minister of Saint Lucia echoes calls for the reform of international financial institutions
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Contact: Adhara King
Friday, October 10, 2008 – Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, the Honourable Stephenson King is echoing calls for the reform of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Coming out of the recent Commonwealth Finance Minister's Meeting, the Prime Minister said member states are prepared to pursue the much needed reformation.
“We felt that there is a need for a collective response to what we believe sometimes are the failures of the World Bank, and the IMF in responding promptly and positively to the needs of our countries, particularly small states,” said Prime Minister King.
The finance minister also noted that reform needs to be a continual process to ensure that the institutions' response remains relevant to contemporary issues.
Although the World Bank and the IMF are not creatures of the Commonwealth, the Prime Minister said, most, if not all Commonwealth member states are part of these institutions.
He added: “Our call is not a call for a revolution or overhauling of the IMF and World Bank, but to ensure that there are greater efficiencies provided through reform of the IMF and World Bank. We noted that in a number of instances those institutions seemed to have failed a number of member territories and therefore we felt that there is a need for the reaffirmation of the importance of multi-lateralism in meeting the challenges of an increasingly integrated global economy.”
The finance ministers present at the meeting agreed to form a representative ministerial group to conduct and support a consultative process across the membership to create a Commonwealth consensus on the specific objectives of the proposed reform. |
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