Tim Adams recommends emerging economies have more say in IMF

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In comments to an International Institute of Economics conference, US Undersecretary of the Treasury Tim Adams said that rapidly-growing emerging economies should have more of a say in the lending operations of the International Monetary Fund. He also said that representation on the IMFs governing board might need to be adjusted. He said that the voting authority of emerging nations should be proportional to their role in the global economy, even if this means that rich nations must give up some of their power. Mr. Adamss comments echoed comments made on Thursday by Rodrigo Rato, the Managing Director of the IMF, who said that the voting shares of certain nations are not appropriate to the size of their economies. This is a position that developing nations have held for a long time. Mr. Adams said that nations whose voting share should increase include Turkey, Mexico, and South Korea. However, he also advocated an increased voting share for the United States, which he said holds a 17 percent share of the IMF vote but has an output that equals around 29 percent of the global economy. In addition, Mr. Adams also said that the IMF needs to take a stronger role in monitoring policies regarding currency exchange rates among its member nations.