Russia up in IMF rating to 9th place, China - to 3rd.

28/10 Tass 100

WASHINGTON, October 28 (Itar-Tass) - In accordance with the decisions
approved at the recent ministerial meeting of the financiers of the Group
of 20 leading nations in Gyeongju (South Korea), Russia is to move up in
the IMF "table of ranks" - from the 10th place to the 9th. China will be
third in this ranking - after the United States and Japan (it was sixth
earlier). India will rise from the 11th to 8th position. However, in
general, as Itar-Tass learnt from reliable sources in Washington, the
compromise attained at the meeting envisages only minimal changes in the
"balance of forces" among the groups of countries in the International
Monetary Fund.
It was officially announced on the ministerial meeting results that
the G20 advocated the redistribution of more than 6 percent of national
quotas, which determine the share of votes of the IMF member countries in
making decisions in this organisation. However, according to the
communique, it was decided to redistribute them in favour of the "fastest
growing emerging markets and under-represented countries," and not from
the economically developed countries to developing countries, as was
originally demanded by the BRIC group (Brazil, Russia, India and China),
and many other members of the Fund.
The IMF does not have at all clear and generally recognised criteria
of "dynamism." "Under-representation" is defined by the abstruse and, on
conviction of many countries, certainly unfair formula. As a result,
according to experts, more than half of the redistributed package was
taken away from countries, whose say was minimal already without that -
such as Argentina, Ukraine or South Africa. And the industrialised powers
conceded in the end only 2.78 percent of their quotas.
As a result, by and large, all remained with their own. The overall
ratio of votes between the developed and developing countries that was
earlier 60.5 percent to 39.5 percent now equals 57.7 percent to 42.3
percent. It is clear that with this gap the poor countries will still not
have a real influence in the IMF. Which means, incidentally, that the
legitimacy of the Fund will not increase.
However, West European countries seemed to have agreed in Gyeongju to
cede with time 2 of 9 seats held by them in the IMF Executive Board.
Certainly, even after that their representation on the board of 24 people
will remain disproportionately high. In addition, the press has already
circulated voices that as "consolation" they may keep an unspoken
privilege, according to which a West European official always takes the
highest administrative post of Managing Director of the IMF - the more so
that the Americans have also retained the quota that actually gives them
the veto power over key decisions of the organisation.
According to IMF's press release, at their meeting in Gyeongju, Korea,
G20 finance ministers and central bank governors agreed on a doubling of
IMF members' quotas-financial stakes that determine voting power in the
institution-that will shift voting shares toward dynamic emerging market
and developing countries. As a result of the quota rebalancing, the large,
dynamic emerging market countries Brazil, China, India, and Russia move up
to be among the top 10 shareholders of the IMF. The ministers also agreed
on a reshuffle of the IMF's 24-member Executive Board that will raise the
representation of dynamic emerging market and developing countries on the
institution's day-to-day decision-making body. There will be two fewer
Board members from advanced European countries, and all Executive
Directors will be elected rather than appointed as some are now. The size
of the Board will remain at 24.
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