国际英语新闻：G24 ministers urge IMF to accelerate quota adjustment

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Intergovernment Group of Twenty-Four (G24), a grouping of 24 developing countries, on Thursday called for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to accelerate its process to shift its quota to developing countries.

"The IMF's legitimacy, relevance, and effectiveness in implementing its mandate depends critically on addressing the imbalance in voice and representation," the G24 finance ministers and central bankers said in a communique after concluding their 84th meeting in Washington, D.C..

The document called for a "significant" realignment of IMF quotas to bring about a shift of at least 5 percentage points from advanced economies to emerging markets and developing countries ( EMDCs).

The IMF's latest World Economic Outlook report predicted much stronger growth in developing countries than that of advanced economies. However, developing countries' increasing influence in the world economy was not matched by their quotas at the IMF.

The IMF also lags behind its sister, the World Bank, in terms of quota reform. The Bank in April approved a 3.13-percentage- point increase in the voting power of developing countries, making it 47.19 percent now.

The G24 ministers reiterated their call that the heads of the IMF and the World Bank must be chosen on the basis of an open, transparent, merit based process without regard to nationality beginning with the next elections.