Proposed Amendment of the Articles of Agreement Regarding Basic Votes - Preliminary Considerations

Policy Papers, December 22, 2006

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Resolution: Board of Governors Resolution on Quota and Voice Reform in the International Monetary Fund, adopted effective September 18, 2006 (Resolution 61-5).
Paragraph 4 of Resolution 61-5 requests the Executive Board to propose an amendment of the Fund’s Articles of Agreement as integral to the reform program and together with recommendations for increases in quotas under paragraph 3.
Timing requirement: The Executive Board is requested to put forward a specific proposal by the Annual Meetings in 2007, and no later than the Annual Meetings in 2008.

(a) Provide for at least a doubling of the “basic” votes that each member possesses pursuant to Article XII, Section 5(a) of the Fund’s Articles of Agreement, and thereby at a minimum protect the existing voting share of low income countries as a group.
(b) Ensure that the ratio of the sum of the “basic” votes of all members to the sum of members’ total voting power remains constant following the increase under (a) above in the event of any subsequent changes in the total voting power of members.

This paper is intended as a first step in facilitating the Executive Board’s response to the request of the Board of Governors in paragraph 4 of Resolution 61-5.
It discusses the design of an amendment of the Articles that would ensure that the ratio of the sum of the basic votes of all members to the sum of members’ total voting power remains constant, as called for in paragraph 4(b) of Resolution 61-5.
It identifies implications of such an amendment.

Source: Proposed Amendment of the Articles of Agreement Regarding Basic Votes - Preliminary Considerations, December 22, 2006