AMSTERDAM, Apr 20: The International Monetary Fund can count on achieving at least a 350 billion dollar boost to its financial firepower, and maybe between 400 and 500 billion dollar, European Central Bank Governing Council Member Klaas Knot said in a newspaper interview.
“Even though the IMF money is not specifically designed for Europe, the European debt crisis is now the biggest threat to the world economy. So that the IMF will focus on this,” Knot told Dutch daily newspaper De Telegraaf in an interview published today.
Knot said that with firepower of over one trillion euros, Europe would have sufficient funds to defend euro zone members such as Italy and Spain.
“That’s a lot of money we are talking about, sufficient to keep countries such as Italy and Spain within the fold.”
“The new European emergency fund now has 800 billion euro. The European central banks have 150 billion euro loans to the IMF. Japan has pledged 60 billion dollar, Britain 15 billion dollar, Sweden, Denmark and Norway together now more than 30 billion dollar. China, still about 40 to 50 billion dollar. That is all together about 350 billion dollar,” he told the newspaper.
“With help from countries like Russia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and India, a sum of between 400 and 500 billion dollar is in easy reach”.
(agencies)
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