Indian Finance Minister To Leave For 4-day Official Visit To US

New Delhi, April 18, IRNA – India’s Union Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee will be leaving on a four-day official visit to US on Wednesday, 18th April, 2012 in order to attend the Spring Meetings of World Bank and IMF. The Finance Minister will also attend G-20 Finance Ministers’ and BRICS Finance Ministers’ Meeting during his aforesaid visit, said an official release issued here. The meetings are also likely to focus on issues like spiraling oil and commodity prices, climate change and disaster management. The sluggish global economic recovery and speeding up of Quota and Voice reforms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are also expected to be discussed during the meetings. IMF has been seeking more capital from the member states to increase its fire-power and effectively deal with global financial problems, especially the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, which is threatening the global economic recovery. The issue had come up for discussion several times at the meetings of G-20, a club of important rich and poor nations, without much success. Pranab Mukherjee will also hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from US, South Korea, Iran and the UK on the sidelines of the World Bank and IMF Meetings. Besides senior Finance Ministry officials, Mukherjee will be accompanied by Reserve Bank Governor D Subbarao./end