Senior Chinese official urges IMF to push ahead quota and governance reforms
Source:Xinhua Published: 2019/4/14 8:02:19
A senior Chinese official has urged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to push ahead quota and governance reforms, which are "a prerequisite" for the IMF to fulfill its responsibilities.
"China supports a strong, quota-based, and adequately-resourced IMF to preserve its central role in the global financial safety net," Chen Yulu, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), said in a statement to a meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) on the sidelines of the ongoing Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Washington.
"The G20 Summit and IMFC meetings have made several commitments to conclude the 15th General Review of Quotas based on the agreed timetable, so that the quota shares for dynamic economies can be increased to be in line with their relative positions in the world economy," Chen said in the statement, which was posted to the IMF's website on Saturday.
"We should be mindful of the serious importance of such commitments," he said.
The deputy central bank governor noted that the IMF quota reform should objectively reflect the relative positions of member countries in the global economy, as well as strengthen the voice and representation of emerging market economies and developing countries.
"The gap between the actual and calculated quotas should be narrowed in a constructive manner and the structural distortion of quotas should be reduced," he added.
"There is broad support among our members on ensuring that the IMF remains strong and well-resourced, so that it can play its role as a global financial backstop in the event of downturn," Zhang Tao, deputy managing director of the IMF, told Xinhua in a recent interview.
"Going forward, we also remain committed to the realignment of quota shares to more accurately reflect members' representation," Zhang said.
Chen also urged the IMF to continue supporting "an open, inclusive, and rules-based multilateral trade system."
"With a membership of 189 countries, the IMF enjoys special advantages and trust in strengthening international coordination and cooperation and can play a greater role," he said.
According to the deputy governor, China is willing to strengthen cooperation with all parties to safeguard and improve international rules, promote more open, more stable, and more transparent trade policies, support trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and oppose trade protectionism.
"All parties should continue to advocate for strengthened cooperation under the multilateral framework, avoid policy missteps, enhance resilience, and jointly address global challenges," Chen said.
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