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Friday, November 5, 2010
Transcript of a Press Briefing on IMF Reforms by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the IMF
MS. ATKINSON: Good evening to those of you who’ve had the patience and stamina to stay here and to others watching on the web or otherwise. Apologies for the delay. The Managing Director has come directly from the Board room where agreement has been reached. And I will turn over to him to tell you a few things about that, and then we will just take a couple of questions and, given the lateness of the hour, wrap up. Thank you.
The press release will be here shortly. Thanks.
MR. STRAUSS-KAHN: Good evening. First, congratulations for staying so late. You all win the possibility of having an interview in the coming two years.
It has been a long day after long weeks and long months of work, and including the work which has been done after the meeting in Korea. The authorities in Korea have been very helpful at the ministerial and since then, but at the end we needed to have this day—a board meeting—to work out the different problems.
So, what’s the result of all this? We completed the reform which had been asked from us by the G-20 in Pittsburgh, and then endorsed by the IMFC at the last Annual Meeting or the last formal Annual Meeting in 2009. We did it earlier than expected because, as you know, the deadline was January 2011, and finally it appears it will be possible to do it a bit earlier.
What’s the result? The result is basically that the very long-lasting question of the legitimacy of the Fund is now solved. It’s not solved forever. New changes in the global economy will have to be also translated into new changes in the Fund, but at least we catch up with the reality.
What does that mean? It means that we have now a top ten shareholders which really represent the top ten economies in the world, namely the U.S. and Japan, the four big European, and the four BRICs. And so this very well-known question or remark made by a nasty journalist saying, well, is it correct that Brazil has a smaller voice and representation than this or this country from Europe? This point now disappeared. All these problems have been solved and the ranking of the countries is really the ranking they have in the global economy.
read full transcript @ http://www.imf.org/external/np/tr/2010/tr110510.htm
Transcript of a Press Briefing on IMF Reforms by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the IMF
MS. ATKINSON: Good evening to those of you who’ve had the patience and stamina to stay here and to others watching on the web or otherwise. Apologies for the delay. The Managing Director has come directly from the Board room where agreement has been reached. And I will turn over to him to tell you a few things about that, and then we will just take a couple of questions and, given the lateness of the hour, wrap up. Thank you.
The press release will be here shortly. Thanks.
MR. STRAUSS-KAHN: Good evening. First, congratulations for staying so late. You all win the possibility of having an interview in the coming two years.
It has been a long day after long weeks and long months of work, and including the work which has been done after the meeting in Korea. The authorities in Korea have been very helpful at the ministerial and since then, but at the end we needed to have this day—a board meeting—to work out the different problems.
So, what’s the result of all this? We completed the reform which had been asked from us by the G-20 in Pittsburgh, and then endorsed by the IMFC at the last Annual Meeting or the last formal Annual Meeting in 2009. We did it earlier than expected because, as you know, the deadline was January 2011, and finally it appears it will be possible to do it a bit earlier.
What’s the result? The result is basically that the very long-lasting question of the legitimacy of the Fund is now solved. It’s not solved forever. New changes in the global economy will have to be also translated into new changes in the Fund, but at least we catch up with the reality.
What does that mean? It means that we have now a top ten shareholders which really represent the top ten economies in the world, namely the U.S. and Japan, the four big European, and the four BRICs. And so this very well-known question or remark made by a nasty journalist saying, well, is it correct that Brazil has a smaller voice and representation than this or this country from Europe? This point now disappeared. All these problems have been solved and the ranking of the countries is really the ranking they have in the global economy.
read full transcript @ http://www.imf.org/external/np/tr/2010/tr110510.htm
