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UAE Urges Stronger Oversight Role for IMF

DUBAI — The UAE on Tuesday called for strengthening the economic oversight role of the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, and praised the reforms initiated by the Washington-based organisation to achieve global financial stability.

“It is important that IMF introduce new mechanisms and methods to predict financial crises,” Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, UAE’s Minister of State for Financial Affairs, said in a statement after taking part in the International Monetary and Financial Committee meeting held alongside the IMF-World Bank annual meeting 
in Istanbul on Tuesday.

Al Tayer said the UAE looked forward to more co-operation between international financial groups to meet the challenges posed by the global financial crisis and to promote effective partnership in economic issues.

The doubling of resources allocated to IMF’s loan portfolio and the facilities the fund provided to some countries had “a vital role in achieving economic balance” of those countries, he added.

“We support the role of the World Bank, the IMF and their reforms to achieve global financial stability, especially the steps taken to contain the financial crisis. These include the introduction of soft loans, measures to increase investments, adoption of sound policies and long-term programmes to meet urgent needs of low and middle income countries,” said Al Tayer. In their meeting with the World Bank President Robert Zoellick on Tuesday, Arab finance ministers also discussed various concerns of the Arab economy and looked deeply into the needs 
of our region.

There are encouraging signs that indicate that global markets are emerging from the worst financial and economic crisis in the post second world war period, Al Tayer said. The Middle East region, he said, experienced a decline in growth due to lower world oil prices and low volume production. Growth rate in the region reached 2.25 per cent in 2009. “There are strong expectations that this percentage will increase in 2010.”
— issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com