Treasury secretary Jack Lew asks US Congress to approve IMF quota reform

LIMA: US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has asked the Republican-controlled Congress to pass the IMF quota reform to give emerging markets a bigger say at the global lender, saying it is in the economic and national security interest of America.

"For years, the United States has led the IMF and the multinational development system. We have been working intensively with our Congress to advance the approval of IMF quota reform, which is in our economic and national security interest. This is a question of will, not capacity," Lew said in his address to the annual fall meeting of the IMF and World Bank at Lima in Peru.

In 2010, IMF had agreed on a set of quota and governance reforms giving more voice and say in the decision making process to countries like China, India and Brazil. But this has not been realised so far as the US Congress has not approved it.

Lew said as immediate priorities, Congress must quickly increase the debt limit and fund the government in a way that invests in economic growth that flows to middle class families, and pass IMF quota reform.

The IMF, he said, remains the preeminent global institution for building cooperation on and responding to crises that impact the international monetary and financial system.

The United States continues to be a staunch advocate of the institution's mandate and activities, which includes encouraging relevant and necessary reforms to individual economies and to the global monetary and financial system, he added.

A well-resourced IMF is critical to its ability to act decisively as the lender of first resort during crises, he noted.

"The United States believes in the effectiveness and value of the IMF in helping create a more stable and well-functioning global economy, and we remain strongly committed to the IMF as a quota-based institution," he said.

"We continue to believe that the 2010 quota and governance reforms are critical to US leadership in the world and a matter of US economic and national security that requires immediate action in Congress. The President ( Barack Obama) and I remain dedicated to finding a legislative vehicle for their implementation as soon as possible," Lew said.