London:Major forces around the world have supported Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's
view that protectionism is a real threat to the global economy. "Emerging markets
need to guard against tendencies in some developed countries to extend protectionism
beyond trade to financial markets and investment," Mukherjee said in a press conference
here on Friday evening. The BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries' issued
a joint release supporting Mukherjee's views and highlighted that the reform of
international financial institutions is crucial to ensuring a stable and balanced
global economy. "For the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank
Group, the main governance problem, which severely undermines their legitimacy,
is the unfair distribution of quotas, shares and voting power," the release said.
"Priority should be given to a substantial shift of quotas and shares in favour
of emerging markets and developing countries," it added.
