All India Radio – Economic Policy Challenges in Asia

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ECONOMIC POLICY CHALLENGES IN ASIA

Recently a three day conference jointly organised by Ministry of Finance and IMF regarding Advancing Asia: Investing for the Future was held in New Delhi. It was attended by finance ministers and representatives of 30 countries of Asia and the Pacific region. Various issues of contemporary relevance was discussed in the conference like taking stock of Asia’s strong economic performance, its increased resilience to shocks, and the region’s ongoing economic policy challenges.

Following are some of the issues discussed:

Quota issue:  The present IMF quotas do not reflect the global economic realities. Given the dynamic change that has happened in the world during last two decades it is necessary for IMF to do quota changes according to changing times to ensure fairness and legitimacy of poor and developing countries. In this context the new quota revision is slated is to happen before Dec 2017.

On issues related to inclusion of Rupee in to SDR basket and voting rights in IMF. India is pushing for major reforms in IMF. It is also to be noted that with the emergence of new multilateral financial institutions like China led AIIB (Asian investment infrastructure bank), BRICS led NDB (National development bank) and vibrant stock markets the role of IMF is diminishing in the contemporary context. It is in this light that reforms in IMF are not just the need of the hour but also protecting the relevance of IMF in global economy.

The conference also held discussions about how India can play a major role in transforming Asia given its convergence wide range of aspects and how it can help in marching a step towards “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” – the world is one family- refers to this sense of the oneness of all identities.

India is considered as a leader of south Asia in terms of its size of economy and for various other socio cultural factors. With all the persuasion done by India to initiate reforms. It is a stepping stone for India for a larger engagement on multilateral institutions and it is also poised to play a positive role in international institutions for voicing concerns related to South Asia.

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