Developing states seek bigger role

Washington: Finance ministers and central bankers in the Group of 24 (G24) developing countries repeated their demand for greater representation in the governing bodies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and its sister organisation, the World Bank.

Oscar Tangelson, the deputy economy minister of Argentina, which chaired the G24 meeting, said, "An institution and its policy advice would not longer be credible if the institution is managed by the richest only."

The G24 includes nations from Asia, Africa and Latin America, including India and Brazil. China sits in on the meetings as an observer.

In a communique, the ministers said the global credit crisis "underscored the need to improve the fund's surveillance of the advanced economies, putting as much focus in evaluating their vulnerabilities as it does in emerging market economies".

The ministers said governments and international financial institutions should work together more closely "to prevent the emergence of a larger crisis" in the global economy.

They said the IMF should be ready to call nations together for discussions, as has over the past year to talk over global trade imbalances.

The G24 also expressed misgivings about "the rising sentiment of protectionism in trade and investment in advanced countries and cautioned against measures that impede countries' integration into the global fin-ancial system."

At its meeting last year in Singapore, the IMF took a step toward increasing representation by increasing the influence of China, South Korea, Mexico and Turkey to reflect their growing economic might.

But the ministers said proposals to continue this process "fall short of the reform's fundamental goals".

The G24 was established in 1971 to coordinate developing countries' positions on international financial and developmental issues.