OREANDA-NEWS. October 16, 2012. The governor of Eesti Pank and the Minister of Finance attend the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank taking place in Tokyo. The Annual Meetings will focus on the world economic outlook, risks to global economy and the strategic priorities of the IMF and the World Bank for the next half year.

The meetings of the International Monetary Fund will focus on the situation of global economy and financial markets; possible economic policy measures will also be discussed. Questions related to the governance of the IMF, in particular modification of the formula used for calculating quotas, will be addressed as well. The formula reflects the role of countries in global economy and in the IMF's mission. For small states like Estonia it is important that a consensual solution be reached during the discussion on the quota formula and that all IMF member countries be involved.

At the Annual Meeting the first bilateral borrowing arrangements with member countries will be signed to temporarily increase the IMF’s resources. It is an important step in restoring market confidence and a sense of security. In the longer term quota subscriptions of member countries should be the IMF's main source of financing. Thus, all countries must ratify the 2010 IMF quota and governance reform, including those who have not done it yet. Estonia’s parliament passed the reform in June 2012.

The Development Committee of the World Bank will also discuss global economic developments at its meeting. Discussions will focus on the creation of jobs and on finding a way to increase global employment in changing economy. The World Bank’s World Development Report 2013 will also address this subject and the Development Committee will talk about the activities necessary for implementing recommendations included in the report. Ensuring gender equality is another subject that will be discussed.

Estonia is represented at the Annual Meetings by the Governor of Eesti Pank, the Minister of Finance, Deputy Governor of Eesti Pank Ulo Kaasik and Secretary-General Veiko Tali and Deputy Secretary-General Martin Poder from the Ministry of Finance. The central bank’s experts will also attend.

The representatives of Eesti Pank and the Ministry of Finance will meet with the management of the IMF and representatives of the World Bank and several international institutions. The goal of the meetings is to talk about economic developments in Estonia and the euro area, and the policies for ensuring financial stability and fiscal sustainability.