Friday 14 November 2008

Ready to lend US$100b


Japan is ready to lend up to US$100 billion(S$151.4 billion) to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help boost loans to emerging countries hit hard by the financial crisis, the government said on Friday.

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Guanyu said...

Ready to lend US$100b

14 November 2008

TOKYO - Japan is ready to lend up to US$100 billion(S$151.4 billion) to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help boost loans to emerging countries hit hard by the financial crisis, the government said on Friday.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso will make the proposal at a financial crisis summit in Washington on Friday and Saturday, according to a statement issued by his office.

Mr. Aso will also call for a doubling of funds for the IMF and an overhaul of its structure to give emerging nations a greater voice, reports said on Friday.

Mr. Aso will make the proposal at financial crisis summit in Washington on Friday and Saturday that will bring together leaders from industrialised and developing countries, the Yomiuri Shimbun and other media said.

Under the plan, Mr. Aso will call on member economies to double the current US$340 billion (S$514 billion) provided to the Fund to help strengthen its capacity to address financial crises, Yomiuri said.

The IMF is expected to make several large loans to countries such as Iceland, Serbia and Ukraine to help them weather the current financial crisis.

Mr. Aso will also call for emerging economies such as China to contribute a bigger share of the total funds, which would also give them greater influence in the running of the institution, the best-selling daily reported.

China currently has less voting power at the IMF than Belgium and the Netherlands combined.

Mr. Aso will separately urge the United States and other crisis-hit countries to accurately assess the amount of non-performing loans held by financial institutions and speed up information disclosure, the reports said.

During the summit, Japan, a close ally of the United States, is expected to voice its support for the US dollar-centred currency system despite growing concern about the troubled global financial mechanism, the Nikkei daily said.

Mr. Aso has said he wants to play a leading role in the G20 summit, sharing Japan’s experience in beating its own banking sector crisis and economic implosion in the 1990s.

Tokyo is the second-largest donor after Washington to many global institutions, including the IMF, but its attempts to raise its voice on the world stage have often ended in failure. -- AFP