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China calls for full-scale financial system overhaul

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-26 16:55

China's Finance Minister Xie Xuren urged Wednesday for a full-scale reform of the global financial system to diversify international currencies, improve regulation and give developing countries a bigger say in economic decisions.

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The global financial crisis has exposed some pitfalls of the present financial system and underscored the urgency of an effective, full-scale overhaul, Xie said in a statement on the Ministry of Finance Web site late on Wednesday.

He made the comment ahead of a Group of 20 (G20) summit to be held in London next week, when leaders form 19 developed and developing countries and the European Union will discuss the solutions to the downturn.

Measures should be taken to diversify the international currency system and coordinate different countries' monetary policies to keep the exchange rates of major currencies "relatively stable," said Xie.

His remarks came after the central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan's proposal of creating an international reserve currency.

When the currency of one nation is used as the global reserve currency, there are constant conflicts between the single country's monetary policy goals and the needs of other countries, Zhou said in an article published on the People's Bank of China Web site.

Xie said the reform should especially strengthen supervision over the economic policies and financial markets of countries whose currencies are the world's major reserve currencies.

He also called for better monitoring of global capital flows and regulation of financial institutions and intermediaries.

Meanwhile, Xie urged that timetables and road maps should be made as soon as possible to reform the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to let developing countries have a bigger voice in them.

China supports the moves of the IMF and other international financial institutions to raise more funds, but such an increase of funding must balance rights with obligations and be better used to help developing countries tackle the crisis, he noted.

The management of international financial institutions should include a higher proportion of staff from developing countries, said Xie.

He called for more financial and technological aid from developed countries to poverty-stricken regions to mitigate the financial crisis impact on them.

"The global financial crisis has not bottomed out yet ... It slowed the world economy and mired some countries in recession, posing a greater challenge to development," he said. "The international community must join hands and gain confidence to tide over the hardships."