director for the group for a two - year period. ) the main controlling body of the imf is the board of governors ( ministers of finance and governors of central banks of all participating countries ). the board meets once a year ( the annual general meeting ). the interim committee of the board of governors is an advisory board and has 24 members ( one for each constituency ). this committee meets twice a year and advises the board of governors on major policy issues. south africa ’ s minister of finance was elected in october 1998 to represent the english speaking group of african countries on the interim committee for the next two years. there is also a development committee, constituted on the same basis as the interim committee, but with the task of advising the fund and the world bank on developmental issues. south africa is also a contributing member to the capital of the world bank and its affiliates. the world bank has a similar institutional structure to the imf. our constituency is at this stage represented on the board of executive directors of the world bank by namibia. loans from the world bank are, however, granted to countries on a completely different basis and are normally project linked. the annual meetings of the board of governors of the world bank and of the imf take place at the same time ( joint annual general meetings ). at the annual meetings, the south african delegation participates actively in : – 2 – • the plenary sessions ( three days ) ; • the interim committee meeting ; • the africa constituency meeting ; • many bilaterally arranged private meetings, and • a series of social functions and receptions. other meetings at the time of the annual meetings the confusion for any new participant in this annual event is substantially increased by numerous other conferences and meetings that take place at the same time. of great importance are meetings of : • the group of seven, and • the group of ten. south africa obviously does not participate in these meetings. in addition, there is also a group of twenty - four, representing mainly developing countries from africa, south america and asia. this group is officially known as the intergovernmental group of twenty - four on international monetary affairs. south africa is not a member of this group, but has been given observer status with an open invitation to participate in the activities of the group. many other ( regional ) groups also make use of the occasion to hold meetings in washington. last year, the south african minister of finance invited all the sadc countries for a short discussion in washington. a new

mr stals reviews the 1998 imf and world bank annual meetings presentation by the govenor of the south african resrve bank, mr chris stals, to the portfolio committee on finance in cape town, south africa on 04 / 02 / 99 south africa ’ s position in the fund south africa is one of the more than 180 member countries of the imf and the world bank group. at this stage, south africa holds a quota in the imf equal to sdr 1, 365 million ( r9. 3 billion ). the fund is now in the process of raising all quotas by approximately 45 per cent. south africa ’ s quota will increase to sdr 1, 868 million ( r12. 7 billion ). the total new quotas for all members add up to sdr 212 billion. south africa therefore holds about 0. 87 per cent of the total voting rights in the fund. under certain conditions, south africa can borrow its total quota ( r12. 7 billion ) from the fund under normal fund policies, but, of course, subject to the implementation of certain prescribed macroeconomic policies. the fund also provides a number of other specific credit facilities, e. g. the supplemental reserve facility, the compensatory financing facility, and the enhanced structural adjustment facility, that members can make use of under certain conditions. at this stage, south africa has no borrowings outstanding from the fund. the size of a country ’ s quota also determines its participation in the special drawing rights scheme. up to now, south africa has been allocated a total of sdr 220 million. under the terms of a decision of last year, there will be a further allocation of sdrs later this year, when south africa will receive a further amount of sdr 180 million ( r1. 2 billion ). as a member of the imf, south africa has the right to be represented on the executive board of the fund ( 24 executive directors represent all members ). south africa joined the english speaking group of african countries for this purpose ( 20 countries ), and is given an opportunity on a rotation basis amongst the members of this group to appoint an executive director to the fund. ( this group is now represented by mr jose pedro de morais of angola, with mr c. d. r. rustomjee from south africa as the alternative executive director for the group. two years from now, i. e. in september 2000, south africa will provide the executive