In mid-September, Arab media reported that the Gulf Cooperation Council countries were in talks with the World Bank about raising their capital contributions. This was confirmed by Senior Vice President and World Bank Group General Counsel Anne-Marie Leroy, who said the talks were meant to secure additional capital and would therefore increase the voting rights of the GCC, and that an announcement to this effect would be made in October. But no announcement came. The World Bank may be in dire financial straits, according to statements made at the October World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund meetings in Istanbul, but there is disagreement between developing countries and the bank’s biggest donors as to how soon more capital is needed, and where it should come from. Representatives from both France and Great Britain, two of the bank’s largest contributors, said that they believe lending increases can go forward without
