Joe Hockey blasts US over delay in IMF reforms

WASHINGTON - Treasurer Joe Hockey has blasted the US Congress for holding up reforms at the International Monetary Fund, saying the delay has weakened Washington's standing in the world.

In rare public criticism of the close ally, Mr Hockey said Australia - the current chair of the Group of 20 major economies - was "deeply disappointed" by the failure of a 2010 IMF reform plan to come into effect and said the blame lay "firmly and uniquely" with the US Congress.

"The United States drove the reform agenda of the IMF and the United States Congress is now the biggest impediment to that reform being delivered," Mr Hockey said on the sidelines of annual IMF/World Bank spring meetings in Washington.

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