WASHINGTON: As global finance chiefs wrestled Friday with how to redistribute voting power in the International Monetary Fund, emerging markets want to ensure that a promised increase in their say does not come at the expense of fellow developing nations. European countries and the United States currently dominate the IMF in a reflection of the post World War II order, which is now being challenged as developing countries such as China are demanding representation commensurate with their increasing economic clout. There is broad agreement among the IMF's 187 member countries that roughly 5 percent of voting power needs to shift to under-represented countries in the IMF. While China is likely to leapfrog old industrial powers such as France and Britain under plans being discussed to reform the IMF, smaller countries are concerned how the remaining share of votes will be distributed among the rest of the developing world. Quotas determine the contributions of each member country to the IMF and how much a country can borrow. Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on the sidelines of IMF and World Bank meetings that China had agreed to give up some of the increases voting power it stands to win so that other developing countries can also benefit.
