Russia preparing important economic document for BRICS summit - Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW, May 26. /TASS/. Russia is preparing an important economic document for a summit of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) group of leading emerging economies in Ufa, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Tuesday. "We have never abandoned and will never abandon the economic aspect," he said. "During the period of Russia’s presidency in the BRICS, which started from April, we are confident that we’ll be able to launch both the BRICS Development Bank and a new pool of currency reserves," the Russian deputy foreign minister said ‘We’re preparing an important economic document for the Ufa summit. It is at the stage of approval," he said. "This will support the continued effort in the economic area," he added. The Ufa summit will raise again the issue of intensifying efforts for the reformation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, the Russian diplomat said. "Their activity should correspond to the changes in the correlation of forces," the deputy foreign minister said. "So, economic things are with us and they can’t be ignored," he said in reply to a question about whether the BRICS political matters would overshadow economic issues. IMF reform The leaders of the G20 group of advanced and leading emerging market economies agreed in Seoul in 2010 on reviewing the IMF’s quotas in favor of emerging market and developing countries to better reflect ongoing changes in the world. The IMF’s 14th quota review stipulates that the Fund’s quotas should be doubled from 238.4 billion Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to SDR 476.8 billion. The review also envisages a more than 6 percent quota shift from over-represented developed countries to under-represented developing countries. The United States, which has a quota of 17.69 percent of SDRs and 16.75 percent of votes, has not ratified the quota review until now.