Nations vow well-funded World Bank but no deal yet

By Lesley Wroughton

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Global finance and development ministers on Monday promised to ensure that the World Bank had enough resources to fight poverty and other threats facing developing countries.

The International Monetary Fund and World Bank's Development Committee called on the Bank to provide member nations with an assessment of its capital needs in spring 2010 so they could decide how best to meet that goal.

The wording in the committee's communique after a meeting here of officials from around the globe appeared to be a compromise among rich donor nations over the need to refill the World Bank's crisis-depleted coffers.

The committee also backed a proposal by the Group of 20 development and emerging nations to shift voting power in the World Bank by at least 3 percent to developing countries to give them more say in the global institution.

The communique said it was important to "move towards equitable voting power in the World Bank over time."

World Bank lending to fast-growing developing countries has tripled since the global financial crisis started as the institution threw lifelines to governments facing a collapse in revenues and a sharp fall in private capital flows.

At the semiannual meeting, developing countries urged an early agreement on providing more money to the Bank.

CRISIS LENDING DEPLETES COFFERS