BH Hosts the IMF/WB Constituency Meeting

Bosnia and Herzegovina will host the Constituency meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), which will take place in the hotel "Holiday Inn" on Saturday, 22 May, 2004.

The organizers of the meeting are the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, i.e. the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CBBH).

On behalf of the host, the guests will be welcomed the Chairman of Bosnia and Herzegovina Council of Ministers Adnan Terzić. The meeting will be attended, along with high officials of the IMF and the WB, also by Finance Ministers and the Governors of the Central Banks of the 12 member countries of the Constituency (election group), which Bosnia and Herzegovina belongs to and which are jointly represented in the Executive Boards of the IMF and the WB.

On the occasion of the Constituency meeting, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Terzić has stated that he expects this event to have additional impact on the improvement of the image of the state. Also, the Prime Minister is convinced that the results of the Constituency meeting will ensure a better treatment in perception of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a reliable and relevant partner in the financial world.

The IMF has more than 170 member countries and only the largest members have their own country representatives in the IMF and WB Boards, while the other countries are grouped into Constituencies (election groups). BH belongs to the Constituency that includes Armenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia, Israel, Macedonia, Moldova, the Netherlands, Romania and Ukraine.

The Netherlands chairs the group and appoints the Executive Director of the Constituency. Currently the IMF Executive Director is Joeren Kremers.

The number of votes of each member depends on the size of its quota (part of the capital). The quota of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the IMF is SDR (Special Drawing Rights) 169, 1 million that is 0, 08% of the share in total IMF capital.

The World Bank Group is run like a cooperative, with its member countries as shareholders. The number of shares a country has is based roughly on the size of its economy. The United States is the largest single shareholder, with 16.41 percent of votes, followed by Japan (7.87 percent), Germany (4.49 percent), etc. The rest of the shares are divided among the other member countries. Bosnia and Herzegovina has 0.05 percent of votes.

The World Bank's government shareholders are represented by the Board of Governors. These Governors are Ministers of Finance or Ministers of Development and ultimate policy makers in the World Bank. They meet once a year at the Bank's Annual Meetings but they delegate specific duties to their Executive Directors, who work onsite at the Bank.

Every member government of the World Bank Group is represented by an Executive Director and Bosnia and Herzegovina is in the group of 12 countries represented by Adrianus Melkert from the Netherlands.

Constituency meetings are held each year in one of the country members, and this is the first time that the meeting is held in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The aim of this meeting is to discuss issues which are important for the members of the Constituency. This is also, the opportunity for the Ministers of Finances and the Governors of the Central Banks of the Constituency to discuss economic issues of a more general nature on which the Constituency will need to present a common position during the meetings of the IMF and WB Executive Boards.

At this gathering, Bosnia and Herzegovina will be represented by the Chairman of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Council of Ministers, Adnan Terzić, the Governor of the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CBBH) Peter Nicholl, the Minister of Finance and Treasury of Bosnia and Herzegovina Ljerka Marić and the Minister and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and the Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dragan Doko and Momir Tošić.