Dominance at IMF, World Bank:

Britain backs end to western leadership

BRAZIL: British premier Gordon Brown signalled Thursday he would support ending a six-decade-long gentlemen’s agreement under which leadership of the World Bank and IMF has been divided up between Americans and Europeans.

“The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and all the international institutions must change now to meet the new realities,” Brown said during a visit to Brazil. “The next head of the World Bank need not be an American.

The next head of the IMF need not be a European,” he said, referring to an implicit deal upheld since the creation of the two Bretton Woods institutions in the 1940s.

Since then both multilateral institutions have effectively formed the post-World War II global financial architecture, always with a European at the helm of the IMF, and an American at the head of the World Bank.

But with the emergence of Brazil, Russia, India and China as capitalist powers in recent decades, both institutions have come under increasing pressure to change the way their leaders are selected.

Brown called for changes “in the mandate and effectiveness” of both bodies, to make sure the voices of emerging and developing countries are heard. He added those voices had been unheard for “too long.”

The prime minister will host a meeting of G20 countries in London early this month, where the role of the IMF and World Bank in managing economic crises is likely to feature prominently.

His comments echo those of Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, who said during a recent visit to Washington that the time was right to reform the IMF. BRASILIA, Friday, AFP