Japan mulls $60b donation to IMF

Will help boost global firewall against contagion from European sovereign debt crisis

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Tokyo: Japan is considering lending about $60 billion (Dh220 billion) to the International Monetary Fund to help strengthen a global firewall against contagion from the European sovereign debt crisis, the Kyodo news agency said yesterday.

Tokyo is talking with some other key members of the IMF such as China and European nations to finalise their possible contributions to the multilateral lender, ahead of the Group of 20 finance chiefs' meeting later this week in Washington.

If realised, Japan's contribution could be one of the biggest by a member nation, Kyodo quoted an unnamed government official as saying.

Emerging economies

China is expected to offer a similar amount, leading other emerging economies, some of which are still calling for additional efforts by European leaders to help themselves.

Japan, the second-biggest stakeholder in the IMF after the United States, has shown readiness to lead relevant discussions at the IMF and G20, as the US government has shown reluctance to be aggressively involved in any fresh IMF resources boost, Kyodo said.

Tokyo has welcomed the recent decision by Eurozone finance ministers to temporarily increase their bailout funds to €700 billion (Dh3.362 trillion) from €500 billion to prevent contagion from the fiscal problems in Greece, Ireland and Portugal spreading to bigger members such as Spain and Italy, the report said.

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