IMF delays new reforms because US holding up earlier round

The International Monetary Fund put off for one year a new round of quota reforms, blaming the lack of US ratification of a previous round meant to be implemented in 2012. The IMF Executive Board said it decided to postpone the so-called 15th General Review of Quotas, which aims to give emerging market economies, particularly China, a greater say in the operations of the global crisis lender. The newest quota review -- which lays out contributions and voting rights at the Fund -- was originally targeted for completion at the end of this month. But the board said that would not happen because the 2010 14th Review and Board Reform Amendment, which notably doubled contributions to the Fund to allow it to address the financial crisis, still has not been ratified by the United States, the IMF's largest shareholder. As of the middle of this month, the board said in a statement, 141 of 188 member-states had ratified the reform, more than the 113 required. But their backing represented only 76.1 percent of the quotas in the IMF, well short of the 85 percent needed. The difference can only be made up by the United States. But although the White House has requested it, Congress has refused to support the reform. The most recent effort on Capitol Hill, to attach the ratification to the annual spending bill earlier this month, failed. The IMF board said it "deeply regrets" the delay in the earlier reform, saying it was important and urgent "for strengthening the Fund's effectiveness and legitimacy."