Documents have showed that EU finance ministers will back a call from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to double its funds to $500 billion at the G20 finance ministers' meeting today.
According to Reuters, EU member states support a doubling of IMF resources and are ready to contribute to a temporary increase, if needed,' it said. It said the increase should be funded by direct borrowing from members, especially those with large currency reserves.
G20 countries are likely to more than double the IMF's $250 billion resources for aiding crisis-struck members at their April 2 summit, the UK's envoy to the group said Sunday.
Mark Malloch Brown said that his talks with members of the G20 developed and developing nations showed a commitment to bring the IMF's available aid funds to 'at least' $500 billion. He said $500 billion was 'the minimum needed' to reassure markets that the world's leading economies were taking action to counter the global crisis.
In related news, the BBC reports that the UK will contribute to a new World Bank fund for the poorest countries, as confirmed by Gordon Brown on Monday. The fund calls on the richest nations to finance it with 0.7 percent of the money they have used to bail out the banks.
The prime minister will address a two-day conference in London a month ahead of the G20 summit of the world's biggest economies. The conference, being billed as a 'poverty summit', has been called to ensure the poorest people are not forgotten in the response to the global economic downturn.
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