Brics poised to get ‘big IMF role'

London: Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations may gain a "big role" in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) if they provide aid to the Euro-region, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development President Thomas Mirow said.

"This is an ongoing trend, that the emerging economies and countries need to get a big role at the IMF, and of course if there would be a necessity to get additional funding for the IMF for Europe, that would probably accelerate this process," Mirow said in a phone interview on Wednesday from London.

The European Union is looking beyond its borders to help more than double the size of a €440 billion (Dh2.1 trillion) rescue fund to €1 trillion.

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa last month discussed providing aid for the Eurozone via the IMF in return for increasing their weight in the Washington-based lender. China, the holder of the world's largest foreign-exchange reserves, at $3.2 trillion at the end of September, is among countries that may be willing to support Europe through the IMF if EU policymakers agree on a plan, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said.

China is "in active communication" with relevant parties, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said November 16, when asked about a possible Chinese contribution to the euro bailout via the IMF.

"We have always supported giving more say to emerging nations," Liu said. China's sovereign wealth fund may give "indirect" support to Europe through investments without being the nation's main route for any aid, said Jesse Wang, the executive vice-president of China Investment Corp, said on Sunday.

Russia, holder of the world's third-largest international reserves, "is ready to join and in fact has already joined in solving the problem of overcoming the crisis, including in the Eurozone," Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on November 16.

Russia has about $100 billion (Dh367.3 billion) it can contribute to international bailouts, according to Commerzbank AG.

The country's reserves stood at $515.1 billion as of November 18.

The IMF may need as much as $300 billion to finance bailouts of debt-encumbered European nations, Arkady Dvorkovich, chief economic aide to President Dmitry Medvedev, said on November 9.

Voting power

In return for providing aid to the Euro-region, Russia and its Brics partners are seeking sufficient voting power to "influence key decisions" at the IMF, Dvorkovich said November 4 at the Cannes G20 summit.

Emerging nations have urged an end to the convention of naming the IMF's head from Europe and World Bank presidents from the US Christine Lagarde, a former French finance minister, was appointed to the IMF job in June after her countryman Dominique Strauss-Kahn quit the post.

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