G-7 TO PUSH FOR REDISTRIBUTION OF VOTING POWER IN IMF. Finance ministers from the Group of Seven (G-7) industrial nations are poised to push for a redistribution of voting power within the International Monetary Fund (IMF) when they assemble in Japan next week, Japan Economic Newswire reports an international financial source said today.
They will probably make a reference in a report to be submitted to their leaders to a shared eagerness to have voting in the Washington-based IMF better reflect the rising economic power of Asia, the source said. Senior officials from the G-7, which groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, are discussing the exact wording of the report that will deal with IMF voting and other reforms of the global financial system, the source said.
The envisaged call for the reassessment of the IMF's quota distribution, voting rights and representation on its board is one of Japan's initiatives as host of this year's Group of Eight (G-8) summit. The G-8 summit is set for July 21-23 in Okinawa. As part of preparations for the summit, the G-7 finance ministers will meet in Fukuoka on July 8 and G-8 foreign ministers in Miyazaki on July 12-13. The G-8 is the G-7 plus Russia.