Finance ministers and central bankers of the Group of 24 developing nations have, in an official communiqué, noted the "vulnerability of the US subprime mortgage market", its likely "financial and spillover effects" on the global economy, and demanded the IMF''s direct intervention.

The G-24 has demanded that the IMF should step up its surveillance of the United States and other advanced economies, in light of the global credit crisis shaking the world markets. The group has also repeated its demand for greater representation of developing countries in the governing bodies of the IMF and its sister organisation, the World Bank.

The G-24 ministers, who met on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, said the crisis "underscored the need to improve the fund''s surveillance of the advanced economies, putting as much focus in evaluating their vulnerabilities as it does in emerging market economies".

The meltdown in the United States, caused by risky subprime mortgages made to borrowers with poor credit or inadequate incomes, has hurt investors in Europe and elsewhere. Banks, hedge funds and others that invested in subprime mortgage-backed securities have suffered huge losses.

Established in 1971 to coordinate the positions of developing countries on international financial and developmental issues, the G-24 comprises nations from Asia, Africa and Latin America, including growing economic powers like India and Brazil. China sits in on the meetings as an observer.

The ministers said governments and international financial institutions should work together more closely "to prevent the emergence of a larger crisis" in the global economy. It said the IMF should be ready to call nations together for discussions, as it has over the past year to negotiate global trade imbalances.

The G-24 also deplored "the rising sentiment of protectionism in trade and investment in advanced countries and cautioned against measures that impede countries'' integration into the global financial system".

And, as they do each year, the ministers pointed out the "utmost importance" of increasing the representation of developing countries in the governance of the World Bank and IMF. Deputy economy minister of Argentina Oscar Tangelson, who chaired the G-24 meeting, said: "An institution and its policy advice would not longer be credible if the institution is managed by the richest only."

At its meeting last year in Singapore, the IMF took a step toward increasing representation, by increasing the influence of China, South Korea, Mexico and Turkey to reflect their growing weights in the world economy. But the ministers said the proposals to continue this process fall far short of the reform''s fundamental goals.