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Japan ready to lend 100 bln dollars to IMF: govt
2008-11-13
TOKYO (AFP) - Japan is ready to lend up to 100 billion dollars to the International Monetary Fund to boost assistance for emerging countries hit hard by the financial crisis, the government said Friday. Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso will make the proposal at a financial crisis summit of major industrialised and emerging nations in Washington on Friday and Saturday, according to a statement issued by his office. He will also call on other member countries of the IMF to give more funds to the institution so that it can help emerging nations, which are expected to be a key driver of global economic growth, it said. "Until the increase in capital is realised, we are ready to offer up to 100 billion dollars to the IMF from our foreign currency reserves," the statement said. The IMF is expected to extend large loans to countries such as Iceland, Hungary and Ukraine to help them weather the current financial crisis. At the same time there are growing calls for emerging economies such as China to be given greater influence in the running of the institution to reflect the rapidly changing global economic landscape. China currently has less voting power at the IMF than Belgium and the Netherlands combined. 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.
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