GLOBAL ECONOMY WEEKAHEAD-Currency war fears tinge IMF meetings

WASHINGTON, Oct (Reuters) - If there's one thing the world's economic powers can agree on, it's that none of them wants a strong currency right now.Why wouldn’t you want a strong currency? You might ask. Well for a very simple explanation it makes your goods more expensive and hurts your ability to sell those goods overseas. However it does make the cost of those Italian leather driving mocs you have been eying a little more appealing tot he pocketbook. Fears that a currency war may be brewing will likely dominate talks when financial leaders gather at the twice-yearly International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington beginning on Friday. In the past month, Japan has intervened to drive down the value of the yen, and a couple of emerging markets have followed. The U.S. dollar has tumbled as investors brace for the Federal Reserve to print as much as $1 trillion to fund debt purchases in the hope of propping up the recovery. The IMF- European countries currently control one-third of the 24 seats on the IMF's executive board, and the United States wants them to give up some of those spots. European countries have proposed giving up two seats to emerging economies on a rotating basis as part of a power-sharing scheme. Simply rotating seats may not be enough of a change to satisfy Washington and other critics who feel the arrangement is unfair. Development groups said the Europeans' proposal was little more than a symbolic gesture to poorer countries that deserve representation commensurate with their growing power. Germany, France and Britain now have their own seats on the board, while smaller European nations Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Denmark represent groups of countries. Treasury's Geithner has complained that this setup gives Europe far greater decision-making power than the United States even though the two have similar-sized economies. Ultimately, some sort of compromise will have to be reached -- the IMF needs to resolve this issue by October, when the board's mandate expires -- but the Europeans' "non-proposal" does not amount to substantial change, said Domenico Lombardi, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank and a former IMF board member. "I don't think it is going to fly at all with the U.S. and the rest of the membership," Lombardi said. (Editing by Padraic Cassidy)