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London - Saudi Arabia backs plans to increase emerging nations say in the International Monetary Fund but would not accept a reduction in its own voting rights, its finance minister said on Friday.
The matter will be raised at a meeting of G20 finance ministers in London that begins on Friday and followed up at a leaders’ summit in Pittsburgh on Sept. 24-25.
Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf,  according to "Al-Riyadh" newspaper, said that there are proposals from several countries. One of the proposals is to recalculate the quotas of the countries to reflect the changes in the world economy by giving countries whose participation in the international economy has grown, a larger quota at the expense of countries whose quota will be reduced. “This should not be at the expense of other emerging and developing countries. It should come from the share of developed countries that are overrepresented. This is the position of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and ... the position of many members of the IMF.
With regard to the Saudi position specifically, it is that this does not affect the quota or capital of the Kingdom in the IMF, he added.
Al-Assaf said Saudi Arabia’s position as a major player in international oil markets means it should retain its weight in the IMF.
“The reason is that the Kingdom is an important player in the world economy, given the impact of developments in the oil market on the world economy at large,” he said.
He pointed out that for these reasons, we see and affirm that the Kingdom’s quota should not be affected in any of these changes.