Scepticism as crisis gives emerging powers clout

By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa and Paul Eckert - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The rich nations' financial meltdown has in theory handed developing countries greater say in running the global economy, but the new stakeholders will need to offer more than rhetoric to turn theory into reality.

In the first sign of how difficult it could be to update the global financial architecture to include fast-growing developing countries like India, China and Brazil, none of the emerging countries at the Group of 20 summit offered to kick in money for the IMF to fight financial contagion.

The G20 agreed to add emerging market economies on the Financial Stability Forum, where top bank regulators evaluate banking and market risk. They also agreed to study ways to give the emerging countries more seats at the IMF and World Bank.

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the weekend session "the beginning of an unprecedented process where developed and developing countries will work together."

The Brazilians went further. Foreign minister Celso Amorim declared "the G20 has effectively replaced the G8" and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva echoed years of blunt advice from the West, telling rich countries to "solve their economic problems."

But hopes voiced by Britain, Japan and others that their emerging economy partners would offer up cash for the IMF proved premature at the weekend.

Saudi Finance Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf told Reuters the rich oil-producing kingdom had no plans to cough up more money for the IMF. "There were lots of rumours that we were coming here to pay the bill, there is no such thing," he said.

China, with a pile of foreign reserves approaching $2 trillion (1 trillion pounds) -- the largest in history -- likewise did not respond to lobbying by Prime Minister Gordon Brown for countries running huge surpluses to contribute. Japan had also hoped that oil producers and surplus countries would chip in.