The Bank of the South Initiative
By Ruth EspÃnola Soriano de Mello
The author provides a summary of the conflicts and challenges in defining the Bank of the South’s foundation. Delays on defining key issues, such as objectives, structure and guidelines, among others, are related with important differences that exist among the countries.
Key areas of potential conflict have to do with the Bank’s role (regional central bank or traditional development bank), the composition of the capital stock, and the decision-making system (“one country-one vote†opposed to “one dollar-one voteâ€).
The establishment and consolidation of this new regional financial entity depends on the negotiations currently underway. Since so far the Bank’s foundations have been defined by the national executive branches, one of the major challenges is to incorporate legislative bodies, civil society, and social movements into the dialogue.
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