IMF Head Says Officials at G20 Agreed on "Biggest Reform Ever"

Rebecca Christie and Rainer Buergin
Bloomberg

Group of 20 nations agreed on an overhaul of the International Monetary Fund that gives a larger voice to emerging market nations, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.

More than 6 percent of voting rights will be reallocated to underrepresented emerging-market nations and Europe will give up two board seats in the “biggest reform ever in the governance of the institution,” Strauss-Kahn told reporters today in Gyeongju, South Korea. The G-20 also agreed on the structure for a “financial safety net” to stop nascent financial crises before they speed out of control, he said.

The IMF’s board may approve the package in the first week in November, and it will probably take a year for the changes to be put in place, Strauss-Kahn said. The package includes a shift in the composition of the IMF’s executive board and the fund’s 10 biggest shareholders.

Strauss-Kahn called the deal a “historical agreement” as the Washington-based lender takes on a larger role in monitoring the world’s economies, currencies and capital flows. South Korea, the host of this weekend’s meeting of G-20 financial chiefs, proposed the safety net.

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