Sitharaman stresses on need for IMF to remain well capitalised

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday participated in a roundtable discussion on 'IMF policy priorities and how the institution should support its membership' and underlined the need for the institution to remain well-capitalised to meet future challenges.

The roundtable was hosted by US treasury secretary Janet Yellen on the sidelines of the World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings in Marrakech, Morocco.

Sitharaman spoke about the IMF's mandate and lending policies, a strong, quota-based, and adequately resourced IMF, Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) financing and IMF governance reforms, the finance ministry said in a statement.

Sitharaman drew attention to India's G20 presidency's focus on the importance of multilateralism to move towards coordinated and consensus-based solutions to global challenges.

She highlighted that in line with the evolving needs of the membership, the IMF's primary focus needs to be macroeconomic surveillance and policy guidance, it said.

She emphasised the role of IMF in addressing debt restructuring process bottlenecks and fostering cooperation on debt issues, including through co-chairing the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable with India and the World Bank.

Sitharaman underlined the importance of the IMF to remain well capitalised through quota-based resources to remain central to global financial safety net.

Expressing India's support for gender and governance reforms in the IMF executive board, she said under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's directions, India has recently enacted the Nari Shakti Vandan (Women's Reservation Law), which reserves 33 per cent seats in Parliament and state legislatures for women.

On the sidelines of the discussions, Sitharaman met Ilan Goldfajn, president, Inter-American Development Bank, as per the statement.

Both exchanged views on current development challenges and opportunities. The meeting was attended by officials of government of India and the bank.