Australian Prime minister KEVIN RUDD is proposing an overhaul of the world economic order, pushing for China to be given a more central role in the International Monetary Fund in a move that threatens to divide the Group of 20 and anger Europe.

Under the current IMF structure, China has only a 3.7 per cent voting stake, behind Germany's 6 per cent and France and Britain with 4.9 per cent. But its voting stake could be increased in return for its providing financing to fill part of an $800 billion financing shortfall in the developing world.

Mr Rudd believes the IMF needs a massive capital injection, and some of this money must come from China.

The joke is that everyone is expecting China to put its money on the table, and that’s all fine, but in the IMF, China's voting rights are currently the same as those of Belgium and The Netherlands.

The recent comments by Australian Prime minister KEVIN RUDD scotching at suggestions by the governor of the People's Bank of China that the US dollar should lose its status as the world's key reserve currency shows the arrogance of the Australian Government.

KEVIN RUDD said the currency issue was not on the agenda of the G20 meeting in London.

"The dollar's position on that score remains unchallenged" he told a Wall Street Journal seminar in Washington. "It's not on my agenda papers and if there's a late Chinese edition I'll review it with respectful interest."

Russia already has proposed the G20 examine the creation of a new reserve currency and reportedly has the backing of a growing number of nations.

TheG20 summit, involving advanced and emerging economies and international financial institutions, will be held inLondon on April 2, and you can be certain the Heat is on.

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