Wautabouna Ouattara of Ivory Coast has been appointed as the third director for Sub-Saharan Africa on the executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which strengthens the region’s influence in policy-making by serving as the lender of last resort.
There are now 25 members of the executive board, which is in charge of the fund’s daily operations, thanks to the new role.
“The addition of a third African chair to our Board reflects the continent’s tremendous progress in developing its human and economic potential,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a statement on Friday.
After an election, an additional regional representative was formally appointed to the board, according to the IMF. It is its first expansion since 1992 when the Soviet bloc broke up and two postings were established for the former Soviet Union nations.
Despite having 18% of the world’s population, Africa’s 54 nations—the largest bloc in terms of number among the IMF’s 191 members—only have 6.5% of voting rights. About half of that comes from Sub-Saharan Africa’s vote portion.
A year ago, in Marrakech, Morocco, the new position for the area on the board was unveiled. However, detractors claim that, while the region struggles with debt, it does not adequately meet its requirements.
As nations like Zambia and Ghana restructured their loans and others, like Kenya, looked to the Fund for greater liquidity support because of rising debt interest obligations, the IMF has been playing an increasingly important role in the management of economies in Sub-Saharan Africa in recent years.
