IndiaPost.com - Amartya Sen in IMF-appointed reform panel

WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) today formed a committee of eminent persons, including Nobel laureate Indian economist Amartya Sen, to advise on any modification that might enable the body to fulfill its global mandate more effectively.

The panel, which will also assess the adequacy of its current framework for decision-making, will be chaired by South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said. "Important progress has been made in the reform of the Fund's governance, including the initiation of a process to realign members' voting power within the Fund," Strauss-Kahn said in a statement.

"However, the task of enhancing the Fund's legitimacy and effectiveness must also come to grips with the question of whether the significant changes since the establishment of the Fund require reform of the institutional framework through which members' voting power is actually exercised," he said.

Among other things, this requires careful consideration of the respective roles and responsibilities of the Board of Governors, the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), the Executive Board, and Fund Management, he added. Strauss-Kahn said the committee's perspective, which he hopes to have by next April, will provide "yet another important input to our reform efforts".

Other than Sen, the committee includes Michel Camdessus, former Managing Director of the IMF, Kenneth Dam, Professor at the University of Chicago, Mohamed El-Erian, co-CEO of Pacific Investment Management Co, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Minister of Finance of Indonesia, Guillermo Ortiz, Governor of the Bank of Mexico and Robert Rubin, Senior Counselor at Citigroup.