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India is hopeful the issue of further quota and voice reforms in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be discussed at the agency’s Spring Meetings next month.
“The last round of reforms at the IMF is now complete. The call for more reforms has already been given by India and we hope that it will be taken up by other member countries too,” said a senior government official.
The Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank will take place between April 12 and April 17 in Washington. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and senior Finance Ministry officials as well as Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan will be attending the meetings.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier this month pushed for further quota reforms at the IMF to reflect changes in the global economy. “It is an issue of fairness and legitimacy,” he had said at the Advancing Asia conference. Agreeing that quota reforms are a continuous process, the IMF’s Managing Director Christine Lagarde, however, had said it would like to “breathe” before taking it up again.
With the completion of the last round of quota reforms, India is now among the 10 largest members of the multilateral agency. However, officials noted that the Indian economy is now the fastest growing in the world as well as among the most stable, which should be reflected at multilateral agencies.
Global slowdownThe continued global slowdown as well as concerns over the slowing Chinese economy will also be on the agenda and sources said India would push for more coordinated policies on the global front.
“Global growth has not revived since the crisis of 2008-09 and now more pockets and regions are witnessing slower economic expansion,” said the official, adding that countries are taking more protectionist measures that are impacting growth in neighbouring regions.
Sources indicated that developing nations could also pitch for a review of the IMF’s policies, which do not allow lending to member countries that have defaulted in loan re-payments to official creditors. The issue came up after the IMF relaxed the rule for Ukraine, which has taken a loan from the Paris Club, of which Russia is a member.
“If such a relaxation was made for one country, it should be done for others in need too,” said the official.
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