TOKYO, Sept 26 — Japan could fall from its position as the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) second-largest shareholder, which it has held for more than three decades when the lender completes its quota reform by the end of 2023, reported Sputnik quoting a Japanese news agency Kyodo report on Tuesday, citing sources and documents.
Japan is likely to be overtaken by China and Germany, dropping to fourth place in the shareholder hierarchy, the news agency reported.
Although the Japanese government has supported the initiative to increase the IMF’s financial resources, it still insists on maintaining the existing quota distribution, the officials said.
In early June, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that reforms to the IMF quotas were needed and that the representation of developing nations in both the IMF and the World Bank should be expanded to address inequities and systemic biases in the international financial architecture. In particular, Guterres proposed reforms to IMF quotas, which should be decoupled from access to resources, and to the IMF’s voting and decision-making rules.
Later that month, IMF communications chief Julie Kozack said the fund was in its 16th review of quotas and planned to complete it in December 2023.
— Bernama-Sputnik
