Gordhan: IMF must boost African representation

Johannesburg - The International Monetary Fund's board needs to increase the representation of countries from sub-Saharan Africa, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said in Washington on Saturday.

"The fact that we have only two chairs representing 43 countries in sub-Saharan Africa is unacceptable," said Gordhan in a statement issued to a meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee [IMFC] in Washington.

Gordhan said a request to establish a third chair for sub-Saharan Africa had been made to the IMFC on numerous occasions.

"We respectfully request the IMF to begin to take this matter seriously."

The IMF's board consists of 24 members representing 188 countries.

The two chairs from Africa are Gambia's Momodou Bamba Saho and Togo's Kossi Assimaidou.

Gordhan made the statement to the IMFC on behalf of South Africa, as well as Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.