Analysis: At G20, China finds way to raise stature in world finance

Source: Xinhua | 04-04-2009 08:33

BEIJING, April 3 (Xinhua) -- After a mere four-and-a-half hours, world leaders at the G20 summit in London decided to devote about 1 trillion U.S. dollars to supporting world economic growth and trade, an outcome that surprised many analysts with its scale.

But in that scant time, China had a chance to showcase its growing importance in the world economy. China said it would contribute 40 billion U.S. dollars to the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) increased financing capacity. That's only a small portion of the total, but it could take China's IMF voting rights from to 3.997 percent from 3.807 percent.

China's new voting share would still far behind that of the United States, which is first with about 17 percent.

However, since many countries' voting shares in the IMF are well under 1 percent, any incremental change gives a member just a little extra say in the workings of the multilateral organization. And so the potential change is a small step toward China's goal of having more influence on how the IMF, and the world financial system, operates.