The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Washington

The IMF, under pressure to move with the times, backed reforms on Saturday to give low-income countries a stronger voice in its decision-making and defended its response to recent financial market upheaval.

Policymakers from the International Monetary Fund also bowed to insistence from member countries that the Fund shore up its shaky finances, pledging to cut costs and boost efficiency.

The commitment came in a final statement issued after a meeting here of the IMF's steering committee, held as the 63- year-old Fund was being pressed to accord greater representation to currently under-represented non-Western countries.

The committee said reforming the IMF "should enhance the representation of dynamic economies, many of which are emerging- market economies, whose weight and role in the global economy have increased."

Such countries should see their voting share increased, the committee said, adding that "the voice and representation" of poor countries would also be strengthened.

It said all elements for an internal reform package, including an increase in the quotas that determine a member's voting rights, should be in place by the time of its next meeting in April 2008.

The IMF in September took an initial step toward overhauling its management structure by raising the quotas for four rising economies, China, South Korea, Mexico and Turkey. The Fund is now in the midst of a second round of reforms, which was under discussion here.

While the action taken Saturday was hailed by some IMF officials as a clear advance, outgoing IMF Managing Director Rodrgio Rato cautioned that "we are in an interim moment."

"Today there has not been any final agreement," he said, adding that details of the reform still needed to be thrashed out.

Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega earlier in the day implied that the IMF had in fact, been slow to act on reform, attributing the hold- up to "resistance to change on the part of developed countries, which are over-represented in terms of voting power."