France gives IMF extra $16 bn

I / Washington April 24, 2009, 10:42 IST

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde signed an accord to provide the International Monetary Fund with an additional $16 billion to help it fight the global financial crisis. 

"I have signed the letter committing France to pay the IMF this contribution to increase the funds available to the IMF to fight the crisis," Lagarde said after meeting with IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn.  

The group of 20 developed and developing countries agreed earlier this month to boost the IMF's coffers by $500 billion in face of the worst global slump since the 1930s Great Depression. 

Lagarde said France was making a contribution of $15 billion as part of this additional funding for the IMF, with another billion dollars going to help fund its poverty reduction programmes.

The announcement comes ahead of the annual spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington this weekend, with gatherings of Group of Seven and Group of 20 finance officials being held today. 

The meetings are expected to be dominated by discussions of the crisis after the IMF earlier this week slashed its economic forecasts, saying the world is headed for an unprecedented slowdown before any recovery sets in.