MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

IDB president Moreno forecasted to be re-elected this week for five more years

IDB Luis Alberto Moreno

The Inter American Development Bank will be electing new President this week, but with the nomination period closed last June 26 and no names presented, Colombia’s Luis Alberto Moreno seems certain to be re-elected.

The vote will be taken during an extraordinary meeting of the IDB Governors’ assembly in Washington next July 6, under the complex voting system of the multilateral finance development organization.

Each IDB member state has a governor at the Assembly but votes are proportional to the capital subscribed. The 26 member states of Latin America and the Caribbean hold 50.02% of the vote while the main shareholder, the United States has 30.01% of votes.

To be re-elected for another five years Moreno needs an absolute majority in the Assembly plus the support of at least 15 of the 28 countries of Latam, the Caribbean, the US and Canada.

The decision will be announced by Mexico’s Finance Minister, Ernesto Cordero who is currently president of the Assembly.

However no surprises are expected, not only is Mr. Moreno the only candidate but this year he managed the bank’s major re-capitalization in history, following the conclusion of negotiations last March to expand capital to 70 billion US dollars.

Furthermore although he was first elected five years ago following a political agreement between Colombia’s Alvaro Uribe and the president George Bush, Moreno has managed support from other important shareholders of the bank: Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela.

As its name points out the IDB is the main development bank for the region with over five decades of successful operations.