ANKARA (AFP) - Economic recession in rich countries triggered by the global financial turmoil is likely to last at least 18 months, the head of the United Nations' Development Programme (UNDP) said on Friday. "It will definitely last more than a year " between a year and 18 months," Kemal Dervis said in an interview with Turkey's NTV television. " How long it will eventually last will depend on the measures to be implemented." Dervis, a former Turkish economy minister, also urged reforms to restructure the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to allow it to monitor the economies of rich countries and not only the developing world. "The IMF should be a genuine international institution which ensures economic coordination and healthy policies across the world rather than acting only as the police of developing countries," Dervis said. "It is absolutely necessary for the IMF... to have a say in American monetary policies, American financial control policies or European and Japanese control policies, or at least to disclose what it sees and to draw attention to the problems it sees," he said. "It is not currently in such a position because the rich countries does not give it a mission on this issue," he added. Dervis also stressed that developing countries should have a greater role and participation in IMF management and decision-making.