Johannesburg - South Africa's $2bn (about R16.58bn) loan
to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will help the country gain influence, International Relations
Minister Maite Nkoane-Mashabane said on Monday.
"This pledge by Brics countries is in line with the
provision to transform institutions of global governance," she told the
ANC Progressive Business Forum Brics colloquium, ahead of the party's
four-day policy conference in Midrand.
"It has been a tradition... that decisions in
international financial institutions are made and influenced by
countries with strong financial muscles.
"In this regard the more we contribute financial
resources to such institutions, the better the chance and prospects for
us as a country to influence decisions."
President Jacob Zuma made the commitment of $2bn
to the IMF at the G20 summit, a meeting of the
world's greatest economies, in Los Cabos, Mexico, last week.
The money would be loaned for an IMF firewall meant to prevent future financial crises.
Cosatu and the African National Congress Youth League,
among others, criticised the move, saying the money could have been
better spent on domestic problems.
In total, the members of Brics - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - had contributed $75bn to the IMF fund.
"The Brics pledges were contingent on the completion of
the quota review to... better reflect the relative weights of IMF
members in the world economy," Nkoane-Mashabane said.
The countries' weighting had changed given the strong gross domestic product (GDP) growth in emerging markets and developing countries, she said.
The minister said it was time South Africans took advantage of the Brics membership.
"We should stop asking the question now as to what the hell is South Africa doing in Brics," she said.
"We should now be focusing on what should business be
doing to take advantage of South Africa's membership in Brics, and
opportunities abound."
Earlier, ANC treasurer general Mathews Phosa echoed her sentiments to the business colloquium.
"Whenever our leaders sit... and sign agreements... it
becomes important that we as private sector should make follow-ups,
should network, should do the deals."
He called for emerging markets to determine their own futures and set up their own institutions.
"(There) is a growing view that emerging economies should shape their own future, create their own institutions."
This would be fleshed out at the colloquium and over the next few days at the policy conference.
He said Brics was a "major force to be reckoned with".
The Brics grouping accounts for more than 40% of world GDP.
The ANC policy conference would debate and decide new
policies. These would then be confirmed at the party's elective
conference in Mangaung in December.