China and emerging countries with more power at the IMF

Pittsburgh (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Group of G20 will give more decision making power to emerging countries, reducing that of the richest countries. Today there should be a formal statement, but the fact has already been leaked by officials of the European Union and China.

According to Xie Duo, director general of the Central Bank of China, the developing nations "are under-represented" in financial institutions. Instead, "the central point of the reform of international financial institutions are emerging markets."

For some time the leaders of the G20 - which brings together industrialized and developing nations – have been discussing how to rebalance the voting power in the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The economic crisis, which sees the U.S. and Europe seriously tested and China and India far more active, is pushing for more voice to be given to growing economies.

To date, China has a voting power equal to 3.7%, less than France, which has 4.9%, although the Asian giant has an economy that is one and half times that of France. Brazil has a power rating of 1.4%, while Belgium has 2.1%, but the latter has an economy equal to one third of that of Brazil.

Giving more power to emerging countries will make the G20 more important than the G8 (or G7). Today, however, the monetary contribution that emerging countries should give the IMF will also be laid out. The EU wants a larger contribution in exchange for greater power.

The G20 countries are: Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, South Korea, France, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Russia, United States, South Africa, Turkey, and European Union.