Experts: Reform of IMF only just beginning

BEIJING - The shift in voting power toward emerging markets in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is just the start of a wide-ranging reform of the institution, officials and economists said.

The IMF on Nov 5 agreed to shift more than 6 percent of its voting rights to dynamic developing countries, a move that Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the fund's managing director, called the "most fundamental governance overhaul" in its 65-year history.

Under the agreement, China will become the third-strongest voice in the fund with a quota share of 6.4 percent following the 17.4 percent for the United States and Japan's 6.5 percent. Brazil, Russia and India also join the fund's top 10 shareholders while European countries' influence weakened.