IMF must reform voting rights

The International Monetary Fund's effectiveness is being undermined by a failure to reform voting rights to reflect a country's economic weight, Australian treasurer Peter Costello wrote in Monday's Financial Times.
Costello - who currently chairs the G20 group of industrialised and developing countries - says quotas have been too slow to adjust to developments in the world economy and still reflect the post-war period. "Increasing legitimacy will help make the IMF more effective in maintaining international financial stability, promoting sound macroeconomic balances and assisting with balance of payments adjustment among its members," he said.
The IMF discussed increasing the voting power of countries such as China, South Korea, Mexico and Turkey in April. It will discuss the issue again this week ahead of the IMF/World Bank annual meeting in Singapore next month. Costello urged the IMF to back a two-stage approach to reform backed by key G20 countries.