Australia Pledges more Support for IMF at G20
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has committed to double her government's support for the International Monetary Fund when she meets with Group of 20 leaders in Cannes, France.
Gillard is expected to make an announcement in one of the sessions on reform that Australia will increase its special drawing rights quota twofold.
This is from SDR 3.3 billion, which is approximately $5.3 billion to SDR 6.6 billion or an estimated amount of $10.6 billion.
The prime minister's announcement is in line with the government's 2011/12 May federal budget statements and a promise made at a recent G20 finance ministers' meeting.
An increase in this quota would likely boost Australia's influence in IMF decision-making on key emerging market countries particularly those in Asia, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Observers see Gillard's move as a means of using her promise to make a case for an increase of IMF member country SDR quotas, which are managed by the fund. This in turn will guarantee that it has the resources available to maintain stability and support recovery in the international markets and safeguard problematic European economies.
Gillard is also expected to push for key bodies including the IMF, International Labour Organisation, World Trade Organisation and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development to cooperate in solving unemployment problems.
In the meantime, British Prime Minister David Cameron has not made any remarks about the growing troubles in Greece but called on member nations of the euro zone to deal with the concerns promptly.
The British leader has refused to issue statements regarding any financial support for the distressed countries in the EU.
The UK Guardian cited that "Britain is a 4.5 per cent shareholder in the current $950 billion (£594 billion) IMF fund, representing a UK contribution of £29 billion. At present, $250 billion of the total IMF funding has been committed, including £5 billion from the UK. In total, $110 billion has been provided to Ireland, Portugal and Greece."
The UK, U.S., Australia and Canada are all opposed to a financial transaction tax at the summit.
The Center for Economic and Policy Research said the recent economic turmoil has generated renewed interest in this tax scheme. While such a tax will be vigorously opposed by the financial industry, it offers a very attractive mechanism for raising revenue that is arguably efficiency-enhancing. Calculations based on 2000 trading volumes showed that a set of scaled transactions taxes, imposed on transfers of stock and other financial assets, could raise more than $100 billion a year, even assuming large reductions in trading volume.
Cameron admitted there was "widespread support" for the principles behind the financial transaction tax - dubbed the Robin Hood tax - but said that Britain would only back it if it was adopted worldwide, the Guardian reported.