PARIS — Rising anger at the increasing inequality blamed on globalization calls for a change of directions, acting IMF chief David Lipton said Tuesday.

But he said, that does not mean there is an "inherent flaw in capitalism," Lipton said in a speech celebrating the 75th anniversary of the creation of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

While capitalism "has been the engine behind so much of the success we have experienced," Lipton said "it is an imperfect system in need of a course correction."

He noted that much of the anger is because of concerns about the fairness of the system.

"Part of the problem is the rise of excessive inequality," he said. "Although poverty rates have declined worldwide since 1980, the top tenth of the top one percent worldwide has garnered roughly the same economic benefits that have accrued to the bottom 50 percent."

Governments should respond by increasing spending to address inequalities, and close corporate tax loopholes and work to prevent corporations from shopping for countries with lower taxes, he said.

The changes from trade, globalization and technology are fueling "rising anger, political polarization and populism," Lipton warned.

And while allies at the end of World War II gathered at the Bretton Woods conference to create the institutions that would use economic cooperation to prevent future conflicts, "We are at risk of what one could call a reverse Bretton Woods moment."

Lipton noted that Lagarde's transition to the ECB in November was another change to which the IMF is readily able to adapt.

He said the IMF must make changes to maintain a stable and robust international monetary system.

"Free trade, flexible exchange rates, and non-disruptive capital movements are essential ingredients for a thriving. global economy. That is why the role of multilateral institutions - and especially the IMF - will be more relevant than ever. If we continue to adapt," Lipton said.

Lipton, who has spent much of his career at the IMF and has served since 2011 as the Fund's second-ranking official, praised the Bretton Woods founders for creating at the end of World War II a quota-based IMF shareholding system based on economic influence.

But he added that the current formula, where the United States has a 16.52% share of voting power, followed by 6.15% for Japan and 6.09% for China -- the world's second-largest economy -- has not fully kept pace with economic reality.

"We must reckon with the fact that our formulae have not fully kept pace. We cannot expect to retain the global reach and resources that we need unless countries gaining in economic importance and ready to take on commensurate responsibility gain appropriately in their say at the Fund."

The IMF's bylaws call for the Fund to be based in the largest member economy. Lagarde said two years ago it was possible for the IMF to be based in Beijing in a decade if growth trends for China and other big emerging markets continued and are reflected in the IMF's voting structure.

Lipton said some countries feel they lack the influence they deserve in other multilateral institutions that do not have such a proportional structure -- a veiled reference to the World Trade Organization, 164 member countries each get an equal vote and rule changes are extremely difficult to make.

Lipton also said the IMF sees significant gains from development of new financial technologies to increase efficiency and transparency and benefit people who are currently excluded from the traditional banking system.

Unlike US President Donald Trump's dismissive comments about Facebook Inc's Libra digital currency plans, Lipton said such technologies could "help re-orient the financial services industry closer to better serve the real economy and foster job creation."

"These new instruments may to do for payments what the internet has done for information: make transactions secure, instantaneous, and nearly free."

But he also outlined risks posed by digital currencies, including potential emergence of new monopolies, how personal data is monetized, impacts on weaker currencies and expansion of dollarization. They also create opportunities for illicit activities, threats to financial stability; and corporation effectively taking on the role of central banks. — Agencies