G20 'deeply regrets' delay in IMF reforms

The G20 countries on Sunday said they "deeply regret" delay in International Monetary Fund (IMF) quota reforms and asked the US to make it effective before April. India's Reserve Bank of India Governor, Raghuram Rajan, asserted emerging countries could wait for long for the reform to go through.

"We deeply regret the IMF quota and governance reforms agreed to in 2010 have not yet become effective and the 15th General Review of Quotas was not completed by January 2014," said the communique released after the two-day G20 ministerial meeting. "Our highest priority remains ratifying the 2010 reforms. We urge the US to do so before our next meeting in April."

The IMF quota reforms, which seek to increase the voting share of emerging economies, including India, had hit a block with the US Congress failing to agree on a new funding mechanism for the multilateral body. Emerging countries like India, China, Brazil and Russia have been asking for increased voting rights, reflecting their growing share in the world economy.

The quota reform, once implemented, will increase India's voting share from the current 2.5 per cent to 2.7 per cent, following which the country will become the eighth largest quota holder at the IMF, up from the 11th position.

The world's top economies embraced a goal of generating more than $2 trillion in additional output over five years, while creating tens of millions of new jobs at the summit, signalling optimism that the worst of crisis-era austerity was behind them. The final communique from the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers said they would take concrete action to increase investment and employment, among other reforms.