India, Russia for early implementation of IMF quota reform

MOSCOW: India and Russia today pitched for implementation of the International Monetary Fund ( IMF) quota reforms latest by January to give more representation to the emerging economies in the multilateral institution.

"Russia and India stressed the necessity to create a more representative and legitimate international financial architecture.

"They agreed that the primary task in this connection was to complete the Fifteenth General Review of IMF Quotas not later than in January 2014," said a joint statement issued after a summit meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

India has been maintaining that quota reforms are imperative to ensure IMF's credibility, legitimacy and effectiveness.

India currently has a voting share of 2.44 per cent in the Washington-based IMF. US has the highest voting share of 17.69 per cent.

The joint statement further said that the G20 policy coordination process should pay more attention to monetary policy to protect the international financial system and prevent destabilisation of financial markets.

The two sides also stated that there were still numerous challenges relating to the growth of the world economy.

"They considered it necessary to boost multilateral cooperation in order to tackle these. They attach particular importance to the G20 as the primary forum for international economic cooperation," the statement said.

Appreciating the outcome of the Saint Petersburg G20 Summit, the two sides underlined the need for implementation of the recommendations to speed up economic growth, fiscal consolidation, job creation and liberalisation of trade.