The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive has convened a special committee to spearhead a small states’ initiative in response to a call finance minister Dr Ashni Singh and his counterparts made last year for urgent attention to be given to peculiar development challenges faced by small states and to seek measures to address them.
In restating the call which he has made on several occasions previously, Singh referred to the extensive work already done in defining the challenges encountered by small states but noted that lack of a unified approach to craft practical and feasible solutions.
According to a Govern-ment Information Agency (GINA) press release, Singh made these observations at the 2012 annual meeting of the Boards of Governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank group in Tokyo for finance ministers from across the globe.
The minister said there is no need for the international community to spend more resources to ascertain whether small states are vulnerable since by now this is known globally, not least of all by the policymakers and citizens of small states themselves. “Greater value is to be had from an effort to design a development model and development support instruments geared to respond to the challenges which are already well known,” Singh said.
He welcomed the convening of the special committee to respond to the challenges and congratulated the World Bank Group for its support to the small states forum. Singh emphasised that clear and observable outcomes must be defined for these initiatives if they are to be effective.
GINA said Singh also participated in the 2012 Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting at the Tokyo meetings; repeating the call at that forum. He urged the Commonwealth to examine where it added greatest value, highlighting the diversity of its membership, and the fact that the organisation enjoys what can aptly be described as first mover’s advantage when it comes to small states issues given the work it has already done on this subject.
Singh also met with Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) President Luis Alberto Moreno, and restated government’s appreciation of the support it had provided to Guyana’s development efforts, making special reference to the Amaila Falls hydropower project and conveying government’s appreciation of the work the IDB is currently doing in support of this project.
GINA said Singh is Guyana’s representative on the Boards of Governors of the IMF and the World Bank, and also chaired the 2007 Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting. At the Tokyo meetings, he was accompanied by Bank of Guyana Governor Lawrence Williams and Chief Planning Officer Clyde Roopchand.
