Frenchman Dominique Strauss-Kahn has taken over as head of the International Monetary Fund replacing Rodrigo Rato of Spain. He immediately pledged to move "more quickly and further" in reforming the organisation.
Strauss-Kahn is under pressure to give emerging economies like China and India a bigger say in the global financial institution which would mean reducing the power of European countries and the US. He said: "Our world is changing and the IMF's role must be to deliver resources to the world, which it needs and which provide a kind of stability, not its entire stability, but a big part of its economic stability, and its mission must be adapted to today's world."
The IMF no longer makes the kind of emergency loans it did in the nineties to countries like South Korea, Russia, Mexico and Argentina. Last year its two biggest borrowers were Turkey and Indonesia and its very existence is being questioned by some governments.
Member countries have called for the IMF to change its emphasis focusing more on monitoring the global financial system and the changes resulting from recent market turmoil, a falling US dollar, rising oil prices and global economic imbalances.
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