The International Monetary Fund should no longer act as the "gendarme" of the global economy and must reform itself to restore its relevance and legitimacy, according to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the incoming managing director.

In his first press conference since being confirmed in the post, Mr Strauss-Kahn described the IMF as a "priceless institution" that had a vital role to play in a globalised world. "We do not need less multilateralism, we need more multilateralism. We do not need less IMF, we need more IMF," the former French finance minister said in Paris.

However, Mr Strauss-Kahn said the body must become more responsive to the concerns of poorer countries and more representative of their views if it is to survive as an institution. He said he had heard a consistent message about the IMF from world leaders on his 60,000-mile trip to garner support for his candidacy. "They are both critical and hopeful," he said.

Mr Strauss-Kahn said that emerging countries, particularly in Asia and Latin America, were right to be "distrustful" of past IMF policies that had imposed very strict rules on crisis-stricken countries in the developing world. But he said that world leaders had also expressed their belief in the importance of organisations such as the IMF, so long as they could be reformed.

"I defined myself as the candidate for reform. Now I am the managing director for reform," he said. - ( Financial Times service)