The G20 needs to make a clear commitment on revising the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) quota formula, says a new report from The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI).
In Priorities for the G20: The St. Petersburg Summit and Beyond, experts from CIGI’s Global Economy program highlight key issues for the G20 leaders to focus on at St. Petersburg and over the coming year, as the G20 presidency shifts to Australia. CIGI Distinguished Fellow Thomas A. Bernes, a former director of the IMF’s Independent Evaluation Office, chronicles how progress on implementing the IMF 2010 agreement on reform has stalled and notes that this “raises critical questions about the Fund’s legitimacy and effectiveness.”
Looking to the St. Petersburg summit, Bernes says the G20 “needs to make a clear commitment to make progress on revising the (IMF) formula, adopting GDP as the main criteria, but also including a formula to protect those developing countries that would suffer the most.”
Other findings in the report include:
- The option for waiving the requirement of debt sustainability in exceptionally large lending arrangements should be revoked. The very high costs of leaving markets to guess how debt sustainability will be restored are an unacceptable drag on the resolution of a crisis (Susan Schadler, CIGI Senior Fellow and former deputy director of the IMF’s European Department).
- A priority outcome for the St. Petersburg summit is a clear and focused message reinforcing collective G20 recognition of the importance of international economic cooperation for effective management of the global economy, and a commitment to achieving such cooperation (Paul Jenkins ,CIGI Distinguished Fellow and former senior deputy governor of the Bank of Canada).
- The G20 should hold joint meetings of ministers of finance and the ministers responsible for development cooperation, to make development a keystone of the G20 process (Barry Carin, CIGI Senior Fellow and former assistant deputy minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade).
- Having the G20 address cybercrime and Internet governance more generally would not enlarge the agenda, but would, in fact, contribute to strengthening the global economy (Gordon Smith, CIGI Distinguished Fellow and former Canadian deputy foreign minister).
To read Priorities for the G20: The St. Petersburg Summit and Beyond or for a free PDF download, please visit: http://www.cigionline.org/publications/2013/8/priorities-g20-st-petersburg-summit-and-beyond.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Kevin Dias, Communications Specialist, CIGI
Tel: 519.885.2444, ext. 7238, Email: [email protected]
Declan Kelly, Communications Specialist, CIGI
Tel: 519.885.2444, ext. 7356, Email: [email protected]
The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) is an independent, non-partisan think tank on international governance. Led by experienced practitioners and distinguished academics, CIGI supports research, forms networks, advances policy debate and generates ideas for multilateral governance improvements. Conducting an active agenda of research, events and publications, CIGI’s interdisciplinary work includes collaboration with policy, business and academic communities around the world. CIGI was founded in 2001 by Jim Balsillie, then co-CEO of Research In Motion (BlackBerry), and collaborates with and gratefully acknowledges support from a number of strategic partners, in particular the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario. For more information, please visit www.cigionline.org.
-30-