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Lagarde promises to ’deepen’ IMF reform

31 May 2011 08:53 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Nijat Mustafayev â€“ APA-Economics. France’s Christine Lagarde promised Brazil to "deepen" International Monetary Fund reforms that would give more power to emerging countries, if she is elected to head the organization, she said at a press conference on Monday.

"I believe that the fund must serve its entire constituency," she said, "that the fund doesn’t belong to anyone in particular, not to any group of countries.", she said.

Given the rapid pace of change in today’s global economy, she added, a fund under her management could even seek to speed up the reviews that occasionally recalculate the weight member countries have in IMF management. While such reviews at present occur every five years, she said, "on occasion has to be accelerated. The world is changing faster than every five years."

Ms. Lagarde’s comments follow calls by Brazil and other emerging countries in recent weeks that any new leader at the fund continues shifting more weight at the institution toward fast-growing developing regions. Her effort to win over Brazil comes on the heels of growing enthusiasm for her candidacy elsewhere.

In addition to backing by the European Union, Ms. Lagarde appeared to gain the support of Russia last week, after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called her a suitable candidate. The U.S. has also called her a good candidate, though Washington has refrained from making any official statement of support.