IMF to shake up voting structure
13 April 2006
IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato will ask finance ministers to consider increasing the relative voting power of some rising economies at the institution.
Voting rights may be restructured to increase the relative power of some rising economies, including many Asian countries, at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Financial Times has reported that IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato will ask finance ministers to consider the proposal at the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings at the end of this month.
De Rato told the newspaper that "he was concerned that the strength of the world economy rested on the 'shaky foundation' of a huge US trade deficit, balanced by large surpluses in China, oil exporting countries and Japan."
The director will bring several proposals to the table, all designed to strengthen the institution's role in a global climate increasingly marked by private capital flows and significant foreign exchange reserves in Asia. Other proposals include multilateral surveillance and increased involvement with emerging market currencies. The measures result from a strategic review initiated by the institution two years ago.
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