PARIS, Oct 1: New IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Monday the crisis in the US “subprime” loan sector should not have a dramatic impact on growth in the world economy.

“The bases of world growth today are solid bases,” he told a news conference, the first since being named on Friday as managing director of the International Monetary Fund.

He said the current crisis caused by the subprime, or high-risk home loan market in the United States should not have “dramatic effects” on world growth.

“I think the situation is now under control,” said the former French finance minister who is to take over from Spaniard Rodrigo Rato on November 1.

He however cautioned that the crisis was not yet “solved.”

Strauss-Kahn, known in France by his initials DSK, outlined plans to reform the IMF, saying that it must scale back spending and give countries outside of Europe more voting clout.

Trimming the IMF was an issue that “is on the table for discussion,” he said, adding that selling off part of the IMF’s gold reserves would help ease the Fund’s financial crunch.

Strauss-Kahn said European countries and Russia must give up part of their voting rights at the IMF as part of a sorely-needed revamp of the multilateral institution.

“To allow some countries to be better represented, other countries will have to give up part of their share of voting rights,” he said, adding that it would be unrealistic to expect the United States to be the only country to give up voting rights. The IMF, created in 1944, is seeking to redefine its role in a globalising world reshaped by the rising economic clout of developing countries like China, India and Brazil.—AFP