Nearly four years after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a revamp of its quota and governance regime, the much-anticipated reform is yet to materialize. The situation has put the lender in embarrassment as the top finance officials of its 188 members gather in Washington over the weekend.
But the United States bears more blame than the IMF as the country is a major opponent to the reform, which will give emerging economies a bigger say they deserve.
At the IMF spring meeting that began Friday, finance ministers and central bank governors from other Group of 20 major economies expressed their "deep disappointment" with the continued delay of the reform.
They took a harder line than before by pushing the United States to endorse the reform by year-end, or they would consider an optional plan.
A member's share of IMF quotas is the principal determinant of its voting shares in the IMF. It is fair enough to raise the quotas of the emerging economies in order to reflect their rising influence in the global economy.
The members had reached this consensus, with the United States being a strong advocate for the reform when it was still in its infancy.
As the largest shareholder of the IMF with veto power, the United States should have played its active role in pushing forward such essential and significant agenda.
On the contrary, the U.S. Congress blocked it, and the reform has become a bargaining chip for the Republicans and Democrats in a political game, even though many of them do acknowledge that giving the green light to the reform is the right thing to do.
The House and Senate dropped a voting on IMF reform again weeks ago, making the chance of passing the reform even slimmer for this year.
In such circumstances, the reform package, which is key to promote democracy in global economic governance, is hijacked by U.S. domestic partisan maneuver. It is the emerging economies that will pay the price of U.S. domestic politics.
The price tag of no reform could be high. The reform package calls for a 6 percent shift in quota share to emerging markets, which would lift China to the third largest shareholder. Shares for Russia, India and Brazil will also get hefty rises.
Emerging economies should not tolerate the U.S. abuse of its veto in a time that sources of the IMF money could become increasingly ample and diversified.
In fact, the reform is good for the United States itself, as more prosperous emerging markets bode well for U.S. foreign trade and help sustain its hard-earn recovery.
Whether to move from Plan A to Plan B rests on whether the United States exercises its power within the reasonable and responsible range.
Source: Xinhua
