2/26/2010IMF chief sets out renewed vision for 21st century
WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (KUNA) -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn set out here Friday the key elements of a renewed vision for what he called "an IMF for the 21st century." Addressing an Annual Meeting of the 'Bretton Woods Committee', Strauss-Kahn said that the renewed vision is one that "responds to the challenges our 186 member countries face in the post-crisis era." He added that it will "enable the Fund to retool itself to be more effective, and yet that remains firmly grounded in the core mandate given to the IMF by its founders."
He affirmed that this 'renewed mandate' should cover the full range of macroeconomic and financial sector policies that bear on global stability in the modern world and strengthen the Fund's role as "guardian of systemic stability." As for the three key priorities for updating the Funds mandate, he indicated that they are "Improving Crisis Prevention, Bolstering Crisis Response and Strengthening the International Monetary System." The IMF chief stressed that "a renewed mandate for the IMF would lack legitimacy unless the Fund can tackle 'long-standing grievances' with its governance." While welcoming the G-20s firm backing for IMF governance reform, he noted that "translating these commitments into reality is not always easy."
He noted that in order to achieve lasting governance reform "the Fund needs the active support of its entire membership." Furthermore, Strauss-Kahn stressed that over the past year, "our resources were boosted to over USD 850 billion, which should be sufficient to meet demand in the coming period." In this regard, "we owe it to our membership to undertake a careful analysis of their potential financing needs over the medium term. We need to ensure that our resource base will be adequate to tackle future crises," he remarked.
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