IMF: Bigger say for China not pressure tactic

A plan by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to boost China's voting rights is not aimed at putting more pressure on Beijing to make its exchange rate flexible or undertake other policy changes, IMF chief Rodrigo de Rato said Sunday according to state media reports. The 184-member institution plans to adjust its existing structure by immediately boosting the quotas of China, South Korea, Turkey and Mexico and later rework the voting rights of all member nations within two years. While most countries back the plan, the Group of Seven industrialized countries that dominate the IMF have, at the same time, been urging China to ease its controls on the currency exchange rate. Welcoming the IMF changes, Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, reiterated that China would reform its foreign exchange regime in a "gradual, effective, and controllable" way.