Sandrine Rastello, Matthew Bristow – Bloomberg, 10/13/2012
Colombia will leave Brazil’s group at the International Monetary Fund and join one headed by Mexico as part of a reshuffle at the lender’s board of directors, central bank chief Jose Dario Uribe said.
“It’s a group where there’s a receptivity towards a country like Colombia, where there are great historical and commercial ties,” Uribe said in an interview in Tokyo today, where he is attending the IMF’s annual meetings. “It’s a group, without doubt, of interest.” Nicaragua, Cape Verde and East Timor will be added to Brazil’s constituency, according to an IMF document obtained by Bloomberg News.
Brazil has been one of the most vocal of the IMF’s 188 member countries, pushing policy makers to grant emerging markets more say at the institution and criticizing guidelines on capital controls. Brazil’s increasing clout on the global stage probably makes it challenging for a nation like Colombia to be heard, said Bessma Momani, a political science professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
