ID :
11959
Thu, 07/10/2008 - 10:01
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https://oananews.org//node/11959
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IMF chief says G-8 expansion 'makes sense'
RUSUTSU, Japan, July 10 Kyodo - Enlarging the Group of Eight summit membership to include fast-growing economies makes sense if the international community wants to address key global issues more effectively, the chief of the International Monetary Fundsaid Wednesday.
''I think to expand the G-8 makes sense,'' IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a group of reporters in Rusutsu, northern Japan, shortlyafter attending the G-8 summit at a nearby town.
''I have no doubt. I don't know when, but in the near future the G-8 will be extended,'' he said. ''Nevertheless, it is not enough.'' Strauss-Kahn stressed that international organizations, such as the Washington-based IMF, will continue to constitute a major forum formultilateral discussions on major economic and political topics.
But he welcomed the fact that G-8 leaders have decided they will have a full-day meeting with emerging countries at next year's summit in La Maddalena,Italy.
At the three-day summit in Toyako that ended Wednesday, the G-8 countries did not agree on an expansion of their exclusive annual meeting to include emerging economies such as China and Brazil, despite a proposal by French PresidentNicolas Sarkozy.
Strauss-Kahn said that inflation is ''the biggest threat today'' for the worldeconomy.
He warned that inflation -- one of the hotly-debated issues at the just-ended summit -- is ''going out of control'' in some countries in Africa and LatinAmerica, hurting the lives of the poorest people and undermining future growth.
''That means monetary policy probably has to be tightened in the coming weeksor coming months,'' he said.
The IMF was asked by G-8 finance ministers last month to make a special study on speculation in connection with escalating commodity prices, especially thoseof fuel and food.
He said that the organization is doing its best to analyze the impact of speculation on commodity futures markets and the results of the study will begiven at its annual meeting in October.
On currencies, Strauss-Khan said the U.S. dollar is ''close to its medium-term equilibrium'' value and the euro is ''probably slightly on the strong side,'' while the Chinese currency is ''significantly undervalued.'' ==Kyodo
''I think to expand the G-8 makes sense,'' IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a group of reporters in Rusutsu, northern Japan, shortlyafter attending the G-8 summit at a nearby town.
''I have no doubt. I don't know when, but in the near future the G-8 will be extended,'' he said. ''Nevertheless, it is not enough.'' Strauss-Kahn stressed that international organizations, such as the Washington-based IMF, will continue to constitute a major forum formultilateral discussions on major economic and political topics.
But he welcomed the fact that G-8 leaders have decided they will have a full-day meeting with emerging countries at next year's summit in La Maddalena,Italy.
At the three-day summit in Toyako that ended Wednesday, the G-8 countries did not agree on an expansion of their exclusive annual meeting to include emerging economies such as China and Brazil, despite a proposal by French PresidentNicolas Sarkozy.
Strauss-Kahn said that inflation is ''the biggest threat today'' for the worldeconomy.
He warned that inflation -- one of the hotly-debated issues at the just-ended summit -- is ''going out of control'' in some countries in Africa and LatinAmerica, hurting the lives of the poorest people and undermining future growth.
''That means monetary policy probably has to be tightened in the coming weeksor coming months,'' he said.
The IMF was asked by G-8 finance ministers last month to make a special study on speculation in connection with escalating commodity prices, especially thoseof fuel and food.
He said that the organization is doing its best to analyze the impact of speculation on commodity futures markets and the results of the study will begiven at its annual meeting in October.
On currencies, Strauss-Khan said the U.S. dollar is ''close to its medium-term equilibrium'' value and the euro is ''probably slightly on the strong side,'' while the Chinese currency is ''significantly undervalued.'' ==Kyodo
