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发帖数: 8441 | 3 The International Monetary Fund's 187 member countries gave voice to long-
running frustrations of emerging economies, which say the Fund has
traditionally not been tough enough on its biggest shareholders, led by the
United States.
Now, with the United States and Europe in the doldrums, and emerging
economies providing the major growth engine for the world, the tables appear
to be turning.
"Stronger and even-handed surveillance to uncover vulnerabilities in large
advanced economies is a priority," the IMF's steering committee said in a
communique.
The statement reflected the arguments of developing countries that weak
finances and sluggish growth in the United States are a fundamental cause of
imbalances in the global economy, with U.S. policies fueling the dollar
weakness that is causing strains for many emerging market currencies.
This view was driven home by Chinese Central Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan on
Saturday and won broader support.
"The IMF is no longer the institution designed to look after the developing
countries solely," said Thailand's finance minister, Korn Chatikavanij. "Its
role needs to be more broad-based, and it needs to realize that mistakes in
the larger economies have global impact."
The United States, in contrast, has pointed its finger at China, saying its
huge current account surplus and undervalued yuan currency are partly to
blame for the imbalances that have caused the dollar to fall and raised
concerns about a "currency war."
NO DEAL ON CURRENCIES
The finance leaders struck no deal on currencies but their IMF communique
sought to defuse these escalating tensions by acknowledging both sides'
points of view. Not only did it underline the need for scrutiny of rich
countries, it added language sought by Washington for the IMF to speak with
greater "candor" in advising countries on economic policy, potentially
giving the Fund more clout when dealing with China's yuan.
But it laid out no concrete actions for addressing the problems of
unbalanced global growth that underlies the mounting stress in foreign
exchange markets.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said there is a direct link between
planned reforms at the IMF designed to give emerging powers a greater voice
and foreign exchange rate policies, and said if emerging markets want more
influence they must release their grip on tightly managed currencies.
IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn put it slightly differently: "You cannot be
at the center and be a free rider."
Strauss-Kahn said he hoped to get an agreement possibly within weeks on
giving emerging countries more IMF voting power, which would be in time to
meet a deadline of the Group of 20 summit next month in Seoul.
SURVEILLANCE UNCLEAR
Exactly how the IMF would conduct strengthened surveillance remained far
from clear.
The communique said: "Further action is urgently needed to reinforce the
institution's role and effectiveness as a global body for macro-financial
surveillance and policy collaboration,"
Strauss-Kahn had circulated an idea for the IMF to review the world's five
largest economies -- the United States, Japan, China, the 16-nation euro
zone, and Britain -- and assess the impact of their domestic policies on the
global economy, or what he called the "spillover" effect.
That idea gained lukewarm support. Eswar Prasad, a former IMF official who
is now a senior fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, said
it appeared to offer little change from the IMF's current responsibilities.
"The IMF is trying to reinvent the wheel yet again," he said. The proposals
were "fancy new names for old surveillance mechanisms" and did not give the
IMF any stronger authority to turn their policy advice into action.
The IMF only has explicit power when it extends loans and can set conditions
. Otherwise, it can only try and prod nations into policy actions.
In one sign of how the Fund will seek to be more forceful, Strauss-Kahn said
he would personally attend regular economic consultations with the largest
players, including the United States, the euro zone, China and Japan.
But there was no prospect of any quick change to the role of the Fund -- the
communique called for a review in 2011 of its effectiveness.
The IMF already conducts annual economic reviews of most of its member
countries and reports on a range of issues, including exchange rate moves
and monetary and fiscal policy.
It has a mixed track record when it comes to identifying the seeds of crisis
and getting countries to change their policies before it is too late.
Some critics argue that the IMF cannot be a respected voice in the global
economy until all of its members feel their views are heard on world policy
decisions.
"As long as the Fund is seen as an organization in which all decisions are
taken by a relatively small number of rich countries, and then announced in
the name of the international community, mistrust in the Fund will persist
in many regions of the world," Russian Finance Minister Al |
