"Leaders from the G20 nations are discussing a US-backed plan to give emerging markets more power at the World Bank, officials from G20 countries said....A shift toward emerging countries at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank 'is the right thing to do and it's going to happen,' US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told reporters in Pittsburgh Thursday. 'What we're trying to do is have it happen in a way that's going to be sensible for the institutions.'..." [Bloomberg]

Reuters adds that "...senior EU officials said on Thursday an agreement had been reached at the G20 leaders' summit here on shifting voting power in the IMF to underrepresented countries. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia both confirmed the deal, which would give emerging economic powers more say in the global financial institution...." [Reuters/Factiva]

Dow Jones writes that "...the leaders of the G20 representing developing and industrialized nations had earlier pledged to work for a comprehensive IMF reform that would address imbalances in voting power in the Washington based fund China, with its current 3.7 percent of the vote, has less clout than France, at 4.9 percent, although the Asian giant's economy is one and a half times the size, according to IMF data. Brazil, Latin America's powerhouse, carries 1.4 percent of the voting power, while Belgium has 2.1 percent, with an economy one-third smaller...." [Dow Jones/Factiva]