Former Canadian PM Martin Rips IMF: IMF ripe for shakeup

[applegrove]

"IMF ripe for shakeup, Paul Martin says
Former PM says credit crisis shows richer nations lack moral authority to guide world economy unchallenged
KEVIN CARMICHAEL

From Monday's Globe and Mail

July 21, 2008 at 3:39 AM EDT

WATERLOO, ONT. — The credit crisis will spark a long-awaited overhaul of the International Monetary Fund by forcing nations such as the United States and Britain to acknowledge they lack moral authority to guide the world economy unchallenged, former prime minister Paul Martin predicts.

Richer countries, especially those in Europe, have jealously guarded their controlling stake in the Washington-based IMF, even as emerging markets such as China and India have become bigger players in the global economy.

One argument for refusing to align management of international financial institutions with a world in which China has usurped Britain and France in economic might is that the sophisticated policy makers of the developed countries are best placed to keep the global financial system out of trouble.

But the credit crisis, rooted in the collapse of the loosely regulated market for U.S. subprime mortgages, robs the leading developed economies of that argument, said Mr. Martin, who made a rare public appearance at a conference on the IMF's future hosted by the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Ont., on Saturday.

.....SNIP"

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