India, China's voting power increased in World Bank's IBRD

New Delhi, Apr 26 (ANI): The voting power of developing countries will be increased in the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) by 3.13 percentage points to 47.19 percent after the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) decided to do so in their Spring Meetings.

This represents a total shift of 4.59 percent to developing and transition countries since 2008, the World Bank/IMF joint Development Committee said in a communiqui issued after its meeting in Washington on Sunday, Xinhua reports.

The move marks "important strides of increasing the voice and influence of developing countries at the World Bank Group. The endorsement of the shift in voting power is crucial for the bank's legitimacy," World Bank President Robert Zoellick told reporters.

As a result of the shift, China's voting power has now increased to 4.42 percent from 2.77 percent, the third biggest after the United States and Japan.

Brazil's voting power has risen from 2.06 percent to 2.24 percent, and India from 2.77 to 2.91.

The latest realignment includes a selective capital of 27.8 billion U.S. dollars with paid-in capital of 1.6 billion dollars.

The committee also approved a capital increase of 86.2 billion dollars for the IBRD, including 58.4 billion dollars in general capital increase and 27.8 billion dollars in selective capital increase. (ANI)