China’s call for global financial reform is a loud message to West, Global South: analysts – Technologist

With arms wide open to Global South nations, Beijing is growing increasingly louder in calling for a bigger role in multilateral financial architecture, analysts say as they point to China’s slow progress in securing a bigger voice in the Western-dominated World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

The speech also sent a strong message to the World Bank and IMF, which are holding annual meetings this week that have brought hundreds of officials from across the globe to Washington to discuss the state of the global economy, public debt and financial risks. The gatherings also serve to reflect on institutional reform as the Bretton Woods system turns 80.

China, which accounts for around 17 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product and annually contributes to around 30 per cent of global growth, is often regarded as under-represented in the two key institutions – its voting power in the IMF, for instance, is now 6.08 per cent, compared with 6.14 per cent for Japan and 16.49 per cent for the US.

“It’s likely [for China’s voting power] to be raised. But we should not take it too seriously,” said Chen Fengying, a senior researcher with China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, explaining that there are some institutions in which China simply would not be given a leading role.

Beijing’s policy circle and researchers typically point to tensions with the United States fanning a wide range of worries, from dollar weaponisation to threats of financial sanctions.