Canada failing its role as voice of Guyana and Caribbean island nations at World Bank

Montreal - 24 Nov 2005 - Guyana, a heavily indebted and poor country, and nine other Caribbean nations are being poorly served by their representation at the World Bank by the Canadian Executive Director under the direction of the Canadian Minister of Finance.

Canada has made no effort to strengthen the voice of countries of the constituency it represents in these institutions, despite the government of Guyana=s frustration with the micro-management of its economy by the World Bank and IMF, and broad recognition of the need to strengthen the Avoice@ of small countries at these institutions,. Neither has it acted to support broader efforts to reform voice and vote, which reflect unequal power dynamics set in place when the institutions were created at the end of the Second World War.

The World Bank joined the IMF in forcing Guyana to turn its mining and water companies over to Canadian and British private companies, without public consultation or consent, as a condition for debt relief and development aid. It has judged at least one law passed by the Guyana parliament to be inadequate and sent it back to be re-written. It has been pushing the government to close parts of the sugar industry and cut several thousand jobs.

AWorld Bank and IMF decisions have a tremendous impact on the lives of people in Caribbean countries, which have no real voice of their own in these institutions. Canada makes no effort at all to push for reforms that would empower governments and the people of small countries by giving them a stronger say at the World Bank and IMF,@ said Derek MacCuish, Social Justice Committee Coordinator and author of a new report on economic reform in Guyana.

Asked to respond to criticism that it was not actively supporting the reform of voice and vote, the Executive Director=s office referred to the Department of Finance annual report to the Canadian parliament. No activity is discernable in this report, however, since the 2005 report only describes broad aspects of voice and vote reform, is almost identical to that in the reports of the two previous years, and does not describe any action, position or engagement whatsoever by Canada.

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More info: For the new SJC study on the effects of World Bank and IMF direction of Guyana's economic policies, see www.socialjusticecommittee.org.