Description
China holds 30 percent of the shares in the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank (AIIB), which translates to about 26.1 percent of the votes. According to the Articles of Agreement published by the Chinese Ministry of Finance, 16 European countries will join China’s new addition to the global financial system, meaning just over one-quarter of the members will be European (including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Poland). The total voting power of all the EU members will amount to 21.8 percent, four percentage points less than China’s voting share.
Source: Ministry of Finance (China), and author’s calculations.
China, India, and Russia are the largest shareholders with 39.5 percent of the votes. Korea, Australia, and Indonesia are the largest countries included in the “Rest of Asia” and will each have a little more than 3 percent voting share. Yesterday Hongying Wang, while at the Peterson Institute, reminded us that the BRICS members’ shares in the World Bank add up to just 13.9 percent.[1] The BRICS countries hold nearly half of the shares (49.4 percent) in AIIB, which translates into a total voting share of 43.3 percent.
On the eve of president Xi Jinping’s visit to the U.S., former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson wrote that “[t]he United States mistakenly opposed [the creation of the AIIB]. Now, it should help to shape the bank — preferably by joining it”. Fred Bergsten, Robert Zoellick, and Paolo Mauro are some of the notable supporters of U.S. membership: see articles here, here, and here.
[1] The Peterson Institute for International Economics, Moody's Investors Service, and the Centre for International Governance Innovation held a conference on "Multilateral Development Banks and Asian Investment: Room for More?" where several speakers argued that there is scope for more investment in Asia, and that the AIIB can support both investment and more healthy competition between multilateral institutions.
