The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Friday it had raised “over” $430 billion for its “global firewall” to intervene in possible economic crises, with emerging giants Russia and China adding significant sums to the pool. “We have commitments that are north of $430 billion. That almost doubles the lending capacity of the fund,” IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said at a news conference. She said that the effort “signals the strong resolve of the international community to secure global financial stability and put the world economic recovery on a sounder footing.” About $68 billion in pledges by emerging giants China, Russia, Brazil, India and other countries put the IMF over its $400 billion target announced at the crisis lender's annual spring meeting in Washington. “These resources will be available for the whole membership of the IMF, and not earmarked for any particular region,” the IMF said in a statement, reflecting members' concerns that the money would be destined for more bailouts of eurozone countries. The G20 nations of developed and emerging economies said in a communiqué Friday that it pledged more than $430 billion to better than double the IMF's lending capacity and protect the global economy from the euro zone's debt crisis. “There are firm commitments to increase resources made available to the IMF by over $430 billion,” the G20 said. The commitments seek to ensure the IMF's resources are not overwhelmed should the crisis spread. Greece, Ireland and Portugal have already received bailouts, and investors are worried about Italy and Spain, whose economies are the third and fourth biggest in the euro zone. Although the global lender would be able to use its increased firepower to help any country or region in need, Europe's crisis was the driving force behind the push for more funding. Worries about the euro zone's debt crisis have dominated talks among finance officials in Washington this week for the semiannual meetings of the IMF and World Bank. The IMF has warned the crisis presents the gravest risk to the global economic expansion. In a reminder of the financial stress, 10-year government bond yields in Spain topped 6 percent for the third time this week. Rising yields reflect investors' demand for higher returns to compensate for perceived increases in risk, and there are fears that Spain's borrowing costs will become unaffordable. “The tail risks facing the global economy only months ago have started to recede,” the G20 said after a meeting. “However, growth expectations for 2012 remain moderate, deleveraging is constraining consumption and investment growth, volatility remains high partly reflecting financial market pressures in Europe and downside risks still persist.” Emerging markets won assurances from their G20 partners that their growing economic clout would be rewarded over time with greater voting power in the IMF. Brazil, in particular, had pushed for such a pledge.
