ID :
53739
Fri, 04/03/2009 - 18:57
Auther :

IMF welcomes G-20 action to support global growth

Lalit K Jha

Washington, Apr 3 (PTI) The International Monetary Fund
welcomed the commitment made by the G-20 Summit on Thursday to
enhance the multilateral agency's ability to support emerging
markets and low-income countries, and to bring the world
economy out of its deepest post-war recession.

Observing that the global crisis is hitting emerging
markets and poor countries hard, IMF Managing Director
Dominique Strauss-Kahn said, "The G-20 leaders have today
(Thursday) sent a powerful signal that the international
community is committed to support these countries, including
by ensuring that the IMF has the resources available."

At the end of their London Summit on April 2, G-20
countries agreed to make available immediately an additional
USD 250 billion, to be expanded by up to USD 500 billion in
total.

The G-20 leaders also called for a doubling of the IMF’s
lending capacity to its low-income members, and for a boost to
global liquidity through a USD 250 billion issue of the
Special Drawing Rights (SDR) reserve asset. To enhance the
voice of emerging markets and developing countries in the IMF,
the G-20 urged accelerated review of IMF’s quotas.

Strauss-Kahn welcomed the backing given to the IMF’s new
Flexible Credit line (FCL), a precautionary credit line
launched by it last month to buttress strong economies against
fallout from the global crisis.

"I am very pleased by the support demonstrated by the
G-20 leaders to the FCL. Mexico has decided to seek an FCL
arrangement and I am looking forward to rapid take-up of this
new facility by other countries," he said.

Welcoming the G-20's decision to double IMF's
concessional lending capacity for low income countries, he
said that it will be brought forward by the Spring Meetings
proposals to achieve this.

"The IMF has a unique capacity to analyse the
relationships between financial markets and the real economy,
with a global perspective given its membership. Our global and
country monitoring procedures are being sharpened, including
with a new mechanism for early warnings," Strauss-Kahn said.

"It is also key that the G-20 has confirmed the
acceleration of quota reform to early 2011. This demonstrates
a renewed commitment to the importance of governance and
legitimacy in the global architecture," he said. PTI

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