International Monetary Fund member countries are expected to take an important step in giving emerging economic powers more say in the global financial institution by approving a new voting formula in April, IMF board officials say.
The proposed formula will be presented to the IMF board of member countries before March 15, before a meeting of global finance chiefs in Washington on April 12-13.
Approval of the formula, which calculates the voting power, or so-called quotas, of each of the IMF's 185 member countries, is a vital step toward changing the actual way in which voting power will be divvied up in a process expected to be wrapped up by the end of the year.
An overhaul of IMF voting power is critical to the relevance of the IMF. But the issue has put countries at political loggerheads because it threatens to erode the dominance of the United States and Europe in the fund.
"There is great confidence that a deal on a new IMF formula will be found at the next IMF Spring meeting," a European official told Reuters.
"The IMF wants to present a proposal that would have the support of most IMF shareholders and that could be close to the final agreement," the official said.
Still, some emerging economies, such as Brazil, have complained the formula does not adequately boost the voting power of all emerging economies.
The change has been forced by the rapid rise of economic powers in Asia and Latin America. It has become more pressing now that China and India are the new global engines of economic growth while the United States and Europe are slowing.
If the IMF is to expand its monitoring of the global economy, emerging economies argue, the distribution of power in the IMF needs to be more balanced.