Strauss-Kahn focuses on IMF reform (2007)

[Hannah Bell]

This was written at about the time S-K became IMF head:


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The International Monetary Fund should no longer act as the “gendarme” of the global economy and must reform itself to restore its relevance and legitimacy, according to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the incoming managing director.

In his first press conference since being confirmed in the post, Mr Strauss-Kahn described the IMF as a “priceless institution” that had a vital role to play in a globalised world. “We do not need less multilateralism, we need more multilateralism. We do not need less IMF, we need more IMF,” the former French finance minister said in Paris.

However, Mr Strauss-Kahn said the IMF must become more responsive to the concerns of poorer countries and more representative of their views if it is to survive as an institution. He said he had heard a consistent message about the IMF from world leaders on his 60,000-mile trip to garner support for his candidacy. “They are both critical and hopeful,” he said.

Mr Strauss-Kahn said that emerging countries, particularly in Asia and Latin America, were right to be “distrustful” of past IMF policies that had imposed very strict rules on crisis-stricken countries in the developing world. But he said that world leaders had also expressed their belief in the importance of multilateral organisations, such as the IMF, so long as they could be reformed....

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0e01168a-704d-11dc-a6d1-0000779fd2ac.html#axzz1MZWmn9MN


IMF reform package near completion: Strauss-Kahn
Oct 10, 2010, 01.07pm IST

WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund on Saturday said that it is closer to wrapping up a package of reforms, including shifting quota share by at least five percent from over-represented to under-represented countries by January 2011.... The burden of the quota shift to dynamic emerging markets and developing countries have to be borne primarily by advanced economies... Mukherjee on last Thrusday also called for shifting more voting power in favour of emerging market economies in IMF as they represented around 47.5 per cent of global economy, but had only 39.5 per cent share in the multilateral lending body...

"We are still not there, but not far off. Still some divergent views, but I am used to this. I think we are on the right track," Strauss-Kahn said at a joint news conference with Youssef Boutros-Ghali, the Egyptian Finance Minister who is head of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC).

In addition, there is a commitment to protecting the voting share of the poorest members, he added.

At the same time, Strauss-Kahn emphasized that countries getting an increased quota share needed to play a correspondingly bigger role in stabilizing the global economic system.

"They cannot be at the center and be a free rider. The more they are at the center, then you need to take part in stabilizing the system. That is the logic," he asserted.

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2010-10-10/news/27608640_1_strauss-kahn-quota-share-imf-managing-director-dominique

[applegrove]

1. Didn't the IMF come out last week and say they were for collective bargaining?

Dam I hate it when a hero turns out to be a horrible criminal.

[Dreamer Tatum]

2. Clear evidence of his innocence. Thanks for posting, Hannah.

:eyes: