Thu, Feb 23, 2012, 9:11 AM EST - U.S. Markets open in 19 mins.

IMF leads global push for euro zone to boost firewall

By Paul Carrel and Emma Thomasson

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde led a global push on Saturday for the euro zone to boost its financial firewall, saying "if it is big enough it will not get used."

Lagarde, supported by the British finance minister, George Osborne, said the IMF could boost its support for the euro zone but pressed its leaders to act first. Some attendees at the Davos Forum still doubted the viability of the currency union.

Countries beyond the 17-country bloc want to see its members stump up more money before they commit additional resources to the IMF, which this month requested an additional 500 billion euros ($650 billion) in funding.

"Now is the time - there has been a lot of pressure building in order to see a solution come about," Lagarde told a Forum panel discussion on the economic outlook from which euro zone leaders - most notably Germany - were conspicuously absent.

"It is critical that the euro zone members develop a clear, simple firewall that can operate both to limit the contagion and to provide this sort of act of trust in the euro zone, so that the financing needs of that zone can actually be met," she said.

Lagarde's comments rounded out a crescendo of calls at the Davos Forum for the euro zone to boost its financial defenses. The annual five-day conference began with German Chancellor Angela Merkel deflecting pressure to do so.

In a carefully worded keynote address, Merkel suggested doubling or even tripling the size of the fund may convince markets for a time, but warned that if Germany made a promise that could not be kept, "then Europe is really vulnerable."

On Friday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pressed Europe to make a "bigger commitment" to boosting its firewall.

Two bankers who attended meetings with Geithner at the Forum said on Friday the United States was looking for the euro zone to roughly double the size of its firewall to 1.5 trillion euros. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. Treasury.

Osborne said the currency bloc must beef up its firewall before other countries increase their funding to the IMF.

"I think the euro zone leaders understand that," said Osborne, the only European minister on Saturday's panel discussion on the global economic outlook in 2012.

"There are not going to be further contributions from G20 countries, Britain included, unless we see the color of their money," he added, calling for the euro zone "to provide a significant increase in available resources."

MORE OPTIMISM...FOR SOME

Japanese Economics Minister Motohisa Furukawa echoed Osborne's comments, saying: "Without the firm action of Europe, I don't think the developing countries like China or others are willing to pay more money for the IMF."

On condition that the euro zone boosts its own defenses, he said Japan and other countries were willing to additional support via the IMF.

Lagarde said, however, that if the international lender's resources were boosted sufficiently, this would raise confidence to such a degree that they would not be needed.

"If it is big enough, it will not get used. And the same applies to the euro firewall for that matter," she added.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, speaking to the Forum by video link from Tokyo, said Japan was working with South Korea and India to reduce the risk of the euro zone crisis spreading to Asia.

"Japan stands ready to support the euro zone as much as possible," he added.

Mexico's central bank chief, Agustin Carstens, said on Friday he believed a consensus was building on boosting the IMF's resources to help European countries and others that might need aid from the global lender.

There has been a palpable sense of hope at the Davos Forum that the euro zone is pulling back from the brink of catastrophe, though business leaders are equally worried that Europe's woes will hold back a global recovery.

Osborne saw some signs of optimism.

"People have commented on the mood of this conference being quite somber but having been here for a couple of days people have also pointed out that actually people are slightly more optimistic at the end of the week than the beginning," he said.

However, Davos 2011 also ended on upbeat note about the euro zone and a feeling that worst of the crisis was over - only for the situation to deteriorate and financial markets to turn their fire on Italy, the bloc's third biggest economy.

"The euro zone is a slow-motion train wreck," said economist Nouriel Roubini, made famous by predictions of the 2008-09 global banking crisis.

He expected Greece, and possibly Portugal, to exit the bloc within the next 12 months and believed there is a 50 percent chance of the bloc breaking up completely in the next 3-5 years.

Hong Kong's Chief Executive, Donald Tsang, said no matter how strong the euro zone's firewall is, the market will look at the nature of the economies it is protecting.

"If it is protecting insolvent economies...no matter how strong the firewall is, it won't survive," he said..

(Additional reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Jon Boyle)

 
  • A Yahoo! User  •  25 days ago
    The fact is that the entire Western world has been on a borrowing and consumption binge for twenty years, and the debtor deadbeats, be they nations, corporations or individuals, and the fools who lent money to them, are determined that the honest and prudent among us pay for their greed and stupidity. Unfortunately, they have quite a bit of support from governments and central banks, primarily those of the United States.
  • ChuckP  •  Aurora, Colorado  •  25 days ago
    "The euro zone is a slow-motion train wreck," said economist Nouriel Roubini, made famous by predictions of the 2008-09 global banking crisis. Truer words have not been spoken.
  • Patriot Alice  •  25 days ago
    If we don't change our leadership, we deserve our future....
  • Donato  •  26 days ago
    You know it's getting worse when they start telling you it is getting better to limit the contagion. This is very serious stuff folks, we've had time to prepare but so many are in denial.
  • naviroach  •  25 days ago
    "If it is protecting insolvent economies...no matter how strong the firewall is, it won't survive," ....

    This is what is called REALITY, which will always show up at some point to collect on the actions of people. Politicians can sell a delusion for their personal empowerment for only so long. Then, REALITY comes calling, and the people have to pay for their own blind foolishness and wishful thinking.
  • Where are my rights  •  Dundee, Illinois  •  25 days ago
    Most banks are owned by the Federal Reserve and even the IMF. It is truly time to audit theses private companies. Here we have no idea of the wealth that has been accumulated from the worlds people. Our federal taxes paid to the IRS go directly to them. They are not accountable to anyone. I think that if we were to move towards this. There would be quite the shredding
  • GlennQ  •  Columbia, Maryland  •  25 days ago
    Obama listen (even though you don't ever) mama(the American people) has just taken your coin purse away. Quit spending our money. STOP is a four letter word you should understand. Now open those big ears and hear the word STOP. That means NO MORE!
  • This Independent says  •  25 days ago
    Just don't ask America to give a dime.
  • figaro  •  Clinton Twp, Michigan  •  25 days ago
    The Federal Reserve is neither Federal or a Reserve. The International Monetary Fund is something created by the Socialists Ultra super wealthy to keep the underlings in control and under their thumbs. It is one theory that JFK was assasinated because he had in his plans to do away with the Fed. The IMF and the Fed both steal money from the U.S. taxpayer.
  • Where are my rights  •  Dundee, Illinois  •  25 days ago
    If every country in the world is in shambles. What does this tell you? What it tells me is that the Federal Reserves and the IMF practices seems to have created bad policies. And their pyramid scheme is coming to an end. We have allowed this entity to do what it wants at will. The fastest way out of this mess with the least effect on everyone is to rid ourselves of theses private companies. After all this is only owned by 1 percent of the population. It would seem to me, one percent taking a lost is better then 99 percent. Plus I do not think any unborn children should owe over 50.000 dollars just to be born.
    The cost of living should have never been allowed to be controlled by inflation and deflation practices. And money being produced with nothing backing it. On the presumption it would be paid back by the American and world people. The sad part is all the governments have engaged to taxing the All people. Now we must pay back the Trillions of book figures with our labor, by producing goods and services to which we are now denied access of purchasing power for our families. We must pay enormous debt charges with interest. We have all been used by this select few. The system that can at any time be cancelled out of existence with the dumping of pledged securities and, simultaneously, with the depression and deflation of all the physical and intangible assets of the people. These governments had known for a long time what was going to happen to the economy. These government has allowed this to continue, As if they're trying to run our economy into the ground. It seems obvious that whom controls the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that have grow up around us will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. How true the words of a former president.
    Ask yourselves with all the knowledge out there, why do we continue to allowed our own demise.
  • alan h  •  Portsmouth, United Kingdom  •  25 days ago
    HA! Throwing funny money on a ponzi sceme is commical at best. One day soon this lie will show itself and it won't be pretty. No fiat currency has ever lasted more than 50 years, we are in year 41!
  • Lobsang Tashi  •  Irvine, California  •  25 days ago
    The candyman is pushing her drugs and sucking you into her lifetime of debt. Don't believe what his lady is selling. She don't have to pay it back, just eat it stupid kids and kill yourselves and your childrens life too. Bad Lady!
  • Chriscik  •  25 days ago
    Firewall? That's a new one I've never heard. It's so freaking obvious how bogus and manipulated and fake the money system we have today is. It's obvious it's a private system where a group of global elites want to coin & print the money of all countries and be paid back interest on that fake fiat currency. It's failing and this type of model has always been destined to fail. Now they just make up stupid schemes to try and keep it afloat. In laymens terms....the last 4 years or so has become nothing but a scheme of taking out debt to pay off debt, and trading debt to pay off debt and building up debt to create firewalls of debt by countries taking on more debt to get out of debt and then turning around and swapping that debt with a lesser debt with the promise of repaying that debt only to put off that debt by taking out more debt and sticking the tax pay with the bill. Meanwhile, this all floats over into the markets so more derivatives can be created backed by.......debt.

    And ya know, I don't know which would be worse. Having a collapse, or having nothing but a drawn out stagnant system of a widening gap between rich and poor that will go on for more years to come. Basically, it's just turned into a system where someone has to work themselves to death to make a dollar, and the global elites can just print billions of those same dollars up and do whatever the hell they want with it. I think, the only thing that will put an end to it all is for Russia, China, India, & Iran to continue progressing to become the new superpowers. This will swallow up the old British oligarchial system of debt based money that's been used and traded around the world for a century to finance death and oppression and liberalism and diversity.
  • Sid Nukram  •  25 days ago
    Europe is going borrow more money to put in a fund so it can borrow from the fund? Am I the only person on the planet that thinks this is absurd?
  • Patriot Alice  •  25 days ago
    So, we borrow from China to bail out Europe's Socialists? Why won't Europe borrow from China, and bail themselves out? Because we American are asleep at the wheel....
  • Patriot Alice  •  25 days ago
    These people have mastered the art of lying.
  • jim  •  25 days ago
    Europe is chalk full of rich folks. Even their lowest paid jobs come with medical and financial benefits for life well in excess of 1 million dollars. Tell me why any county who has citizens not so well endowed should pay them a single penny. They have plenty of money and need to change their growth killing policies if they want to get out of the hole they designed for themselves.
  • dark  •  25 days ago
    SHUT DOWN THE IMF
  • John  •  25 days ago
    The Euro was a stupid idea. It was pushed by "elites" who knew better than regular folks. Well, now the chickens are roosting. Greece (and Italy, Spain, and Portugal for that matter) want a different fiscal policy than Germany. They can not coexist.
  • joan  •  Normal, Illinois  •  25 days ago
    Turbo Tax Cheat Tim Geithner ( appointed by Obama ) should know how to help them cheat people and countries out of money. What losers he and Obama are. Out in 2012.
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