International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde on Friday welcomed a move by European countries to more closely link fiscal policies and urged others to do their part to help ease strains linked to the euro area debt crisis. The IMF leader praised an agreement by all 17 members of the euro zone and nine other countries to negotiate a new agreement alongside the European Union (EU) treaty, with a tougher deficit and debt regime to avoid a repetition of the debt crisis in the future. EU countries also agreed to provide up to $266.24 billion in bilateral loans to the IMF to help it confront the crisis, with $199.68 billion of the total coming from the euro zone countries. “I appreciate this demonstration of leadership from Europe, and I am hopeful that others will also do their part,” Lagarde said in a statement. The nine non-euro states said they would consult their parliaments, where appropriate, on taking part in the process. Britain, which has not adopted the euro currency, did not join in the agreement.
