Finance Minister leads gov’t delegation to IMF/World Bank meetings

Minister of Finance Seth Terkper, is leading a government delegation to the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings to be held in Washington, from October 8 – 15, 2013.

The delegation is made up of officials from the Bank of Ghana including the governor, the Director General of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), a member of the Finance Committee in Parliament and officers from the Finance Ministry. The delegation will also attend the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting which precedes the IMF meetings.

Other meetings they would attend include a meeting with the Vice President of the World Bank and the G24 Ministerial Meetings. The seminars they would attend include an IMF Seminar on “Towards Better Economic Policy Making: Strengthening Africa’s Data” and a World Bank one on “Mobilizing Revenue from Extractives – Dealing with Tax Avoidance”.

Aside the obligatory meetings with the IMF and the World Bank, the delegation will hold bilateral discussions with other partner countries, financial institutions and private sector investors. The Ghanaian delegation will in addition hold a meeting with Ghanaian Community at the World Bank and the IMF.

About the Annual Meetings

The Board of Governors of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the Boards of Governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) normally meet once a year to discuss the work of their respective institutions. The Annual Meetings, which generally take place in September-October, have customarily been held in Washington for two consecutive years and in another member country in the third year.

The Inaugural Meeting of the Boards of Governors was held in Savannah, Georgia, USA in March 1946. The first Annual Meetings were held in Washington in 1946.

The Annual Meetings occur ahead of the meetings of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the Development Committee, the Group of Twenty-Four, and various other groups of members. At the conclusion of their meetings, the International Monetary and Financial Committee and the Development Committee, as well as several other groups, issue communiqués.

The Meetings will include a day of plenary sessions, during which governors take up matters of business and consult with one another. At the Annual Meetings, the Boards of Governors make decisions on how current international monetary issues should be addressed and approve corresponding resolutions.

The Annual Meetings are chaired by a Governor of the Bank and the Fund, with the chairmanship rotating among the membership each year. Every two years it elects Executive Directors. Each year any new members are welcomed into the Bank and Fund.