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Worldwide Economic Pressures Cloud IMF, World Bank Meetings
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=11E7B7D:3919ACA Rising oil prices,
global trade imbalances, China's inflexible currency rates are among
issues for discussion



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World Bank Group President Paul Wolfowitz, left, and IMF Managing
Director Rodrigo de Rato, talk at the start of the Group of 24
Ministers meeting, April 21, 2006Rising oil prices, global trade
imbalances and China's inflexible currency rates are among issues for
discussion Saturday at the start of the annual meetings of the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The meetings in Washington begin a day after a gathering of the top
economic officials from the world's seven major industrialized nations
- the United States, Japan, Britain, Germany, France, Canada and
Italy. The group issued a statement calling on China to convert its
currency to a more flexible exchange rate as a means of addressing
Beijing's trade surplus with much of the world.

The economic officials say the IMF needs to take a more aggressive
role in monitoring the currency practices of its member nations.

The statement also spelled out what other nations could do to address
global trade imbalances, such as the U.S. reducing its huge budget
deficit.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.


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