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IMF to Seek $250 Billion Boost in Its Lending Resources at G-20 Meeting

20 July 2010 07:07 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA-Economics. The International Monetary Fund is seeking a boost in its lending capacity to $1 trillion, from the current $750 billion, at a Group of 20 summit in South Korea in November, according to a Korean government official, Bloomberg reported.

The increase would help strengthen a global financial safety net to counter crises, the official said on condition of anonymity because the talks are private. South Korea is chair of the G-20 this year. IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told the Financial Times that a boost to $1 trillion in IMF lending firepower was a â€œcorrect forecast.â€

Strauss-Kahn has sought to enhance the IMFâ€™s role in serving as a buttress against financial crises, already overseeing a trebling in the fundâ€™s war-chest to $750 billion since early 2009. While the IMF doesnâ€™t foresee the global economy sinking back into a recession, the European debt crisis and elevated U.S. unemployment threaten to curtail the recovery.

South Korea, which successfully resuscitated its economy and banking system after the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, has led efforts within the G-20 to adopt additional measures to combat financial and economic turmoil. The IMF discussions are in the context of talks to increase the so-called quotas that members of the Washington-based lender contribute.

Choi Hee Nam, a director general on a South Korean presidential committee, said today that his nation is willing to increase its quota as part of contributing to global economic and financial stability.

Group of 20 leaders at a Toronto summit called on June 27 for quota reforms to be completed by the summit in Seoul in November. Changes are partly intended to give developing nations a stronger voice.