The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it will discuss proposals for reform of the Fund's governance structure and the ways it conducts economic surveillance.

"This is an important time for the Fund, a time to make some far-reaching changes," said IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato here Friday.

The IMF is now six months into implementing a Medium-Term Strategy.

"One of the elements of the Fund's Medium-Term Strategy we will be discussing this weekend is the proposed changes in the way that we conduct surveillance of the global economy," said Rato at a press conference ahead of the IMF annual meeting, which is expected to open here next week.

One change that the IMF has made is the introduction of a new tool, Multilateral Consultation, in which particular issues of global or regional significance will be taken up comprehensively and collectively with some members, and, where relevant, with entities formed by groups of members, said Rato.

The IMF has already started multilateral consultations to complement its single-country studies.

Besides changes in the ways IMF conducts economic surveillance, the IMF is also making some very important changes in the Fund's governance, said Rato.

Less than two weeks ago, the IMF Executive Board reached an agreement to conduct a two-phase reallocation of IMF quotas which form the basis for determining a country's voting power.

"We are asking our members to approve an increase in the quotas of four very under-represented countries relative to their weight in the global economy: China, (South) Korea, Mexico and Turkey," said Rato,"We are also asking our members to commit to work on a broader reform of the quota distribution process within the next two years."

This will involve a new formula designed to capture members' weight in the global economy in a simpler and more transparent manner, and further quota increases for a broader range of members based on the new formula, said Rato. He said the current position of the global economy is strong, but there are risks.

"With robust international cooperation we can contain these risks, keep the global economy strong, and broaden the reach of prosperity and progress," said Rato.

"The reforms of the Fund that we are working on will play an important part in achieving this progress."

Source: Xinhua