India to push for IMF quota reforms at G20

SYDNEY: India will push for International Monetary Fund (IMF) quota reforms during the G20 Finance Ministers meeting beginning here on Saturday, seeking to provide more voice to developing countries.


Australia, which is the running the Presidency of G20 meeting, said it will "actively lobby" with the US to push through the quota reforms.

"We will actively lobby with the US (over the issue of IMF quota reforms)...US Congress must understand that it is in the interest of the US to reform the IMF," Joe Hockey, Treasurer Australia, told reporters here on the sidelines of the Institute of International Finance conference.

The IMF quota reforms, which seek to increase the voting share of emerging economies, including India, had hit a roadblock, with the US Congress refusing to increase the American contribution to the multilateral body.

Besides the IMF quota reforms, the G20 ministerial, which will be attended by Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram and RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, will focus on implications of the US Federal Reserve tapering of bond purchases on emerging economies and the steps being taken by different nations to fight corruption and combat tax evasion.

India is likely to vigorously push for early completion of the IMF quota reforms at the ministerial meeting of the G20, a club of rich and developing nations.

The IMF reviews members' quotas once in five years and the last such review took place in December 2010. India has already consented to its quota increase under the review and it would cost the exchequer Rs 14,000 crore.

Once implemented, India's share will increase to 2.75 per cent from 2.44 per cent currently, following which the country will become the eighth-largest quota holder at the IMF, up from 11th position.

Worried over the failure of the US Congress to enhance contribution to the IMF, the multilateral funding agency postponed the 15th quota review by one year to January 2015.

"Given the delay (of the 14th round), the executive board has concluded that additional time will be needed to complete its work on the 15th review," IMF had said in a statement earlier.