G20 pledges to reform IMF and WB

G20 finance leaders on Saturday pledged to implement reforms to global financial institutions such as World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) the World Bank.

According to the final statement issued hereafter September 4-5 meetings of G20, the finance ministers pledged to implement reforms to the World Bank by Spring 2010 and the IMF quota review by January 2011.

We recognize that the IMF should remain a quota-based organization; and as part of the reforms, the voice and representation of emerging and developing economies, including the poorest, must be significantly increased to reflect changes in the world economy, the statement said.

They also declared to fight all forms of protectionism and pledged to reach an ambitious and balanced conclusion to the Doha Development Round.

The finance ministers said they looked forward to substantial progress at the Sep 24-25 summit of G20 leaders in Pittsburgh, US.

The classic errors of economic policy during crises are that governments tend to act too late with insufficient force and then put the brakes on too early, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said. We are not going to repeat those mistakes.

There is broad agreement on what to do. The problem is we need to go beyond agreement. We need to have concrete measures, said International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

I'm impressed by the level of consensus but I'm still waiting for strong measures to be decided and also to be implemented at the national level, said Dominique.