(G-20) Lee urges measures to address global imbalance

By Byun Duk-kun
PITTSBURGH, United States, Sept. 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee
Myung-bak urged world leaders Thursday to resolve global imbalance, calling it a
root cause of the ongoing global economic crisis.
The problem may persist even after a recovery if left unattended, as developing
and newly emerging economies will continue to accumulate foreign currency as an
insurance against outside shocks, he said.
"We must reinforce our global safety network through the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) so we can reduce the desire of developing and emerging nations that
are more vulnerable to outside shocks to accumulate foreign currency as a means
of self insurance," the South Korean leader said at a working dinner held on the
eve of the G-20 economic summit here.
The G-20 leaders had agreed in a London meeting in April to boost the IMF's
financing capacity by US$1.1 trillion in an attempt to provide better insurance
or security guarantees for financially weak countries.
Lee welcomed overreaching of the goal but stressed there was still more to do,
according to excerpts of his speech released by his presidential office Cheong Wa
Dae.
"We must not forget the importance of ensuring that the newly established
resources will be funneled to developing and newly emerging economies in a way it
will actually help them," President Lee said.
"Especially, the leaders must clearly state our goal to reallocate quota from
over-represented countries to those that are under-represented," he added.
The South Korean president also called for a reform of the World Bank to allow
equal representation of advanced and developing nations on global financial
issues.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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