Rebalancing via reform

By agreeing to give under-represented emerging market countries more power in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), finance ministers from the Group of 20 have given the fragile global recovery a much-needed and surprising shot in the arm during their week-end meeting in South Korea.

While applauding the joint effort by big industrialized and developing economies to enhance the fairness and legitimacy of the IMF, we are urging the international community to build on the historic agreement to rebalance the world economy through different necessary domestic reforms.

The shift of 6 percent of IMF voting power away from the richest countries toward "dynamic emerging-market developing countries" will surely, at least for the moment, put an end to the discussion about the legitimacy of this international institution.