IMF members set for tough talks in Washington: German official

IMF policymakers are set for tough talks next week on reforming the IMF's mechanism to determine national contributions - or quotas - in the face of rising demands from emerging countries, a German official said Friday.
"Expectations by certain emerging countries on the extent of reform have increased," junior economy minister Thomas Mirow told a press conference here. They have gone "beyond what has been discussed until now," he added without elaborating. "This is a new development."
As a result, Mirow said, he did not expect firm results on the quota question at an annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund, October 20 and 21. Incoming IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn has made reforming contributions by member states a priority of his mandate, with the intention of increasing representation by emerging countries.
The IMF's financial resources stem mainly from quota subscriptions, which are assigned to each member according to its relative size in the world economy. A member's quota also determines its voting power as well as its access to IMF financing. In recent years, developing and emerging market countries have been pressing for quota reforms to give them a stronger voice in IMF policymaking.
Mirow said finance ministers from the Group of Seven (G7)industrialised countries - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States - wanted to discuss spending reforms ahead of the IMF meeting as well. The ministers are due to gather in Washington on October 19.
German currently holds the rotating G7 presidency. Both forums would also examine "the situation and development of financial markets and the consequences on the global economy," he added.
Bank of Italy governor Mario Draghi, who is also president of the Financial Stability Forum, was to present FSF propositions on financial innovations and ways to make them more resistent to financial crises such as the meltdown of the US market for high-risk home loans. A final FSF report on the issue is to be published in April 2008.