Finance supremos get new powers to tackle world cash crisis

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have received new guidelines to deal with high and rising oil prices, trade gaps and other problems that threaten to disrupt global economic growth.

The policy-setting committees for the 184-nation IMF and the World Bank told the two lending institutions over the weekend to attack corruption and, in the IMF’s case, to reapportion voting power so that under-represented nations such as China, South Korea and Mexico had more of a say in IMF decision-making.