US budget leaves IMF reforms in doubt

Crucial reforms of the International Monetary Fund were left hanging Wednesday after the US Congress failed to endorse them in the final budget legislation of the year. The IMF had held out hopes that the reforms, backed by the White House but needing Congress to ratify them, would be accepted in the huge budget bill that was under discussion this week. Already two years late, the reforms to the Fund's membership quota system -- essentially its shareholding -- are needed to both strengthen