The International Monetary Fund says it has raised more than $430 billion in new reserves to combat future economic troubles around the world.
The international lending agency had set a $400 billion goal for a new rescue fund, in part to combat the possible global economic fallout if the European governmental debt crisis worsens again. IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said the agency won several new loan pledges on Friday, including from China, Russia, Australia, South Korea, Singapore and Great Britain.
The new pledges came as finance ministers from around the globe met in Washington for the semi-annual IMF-World Bank meetings. At the top of their discussions is the continuing fear that a renewed European debt crisis could imperil world economic growth, especially if more countries need international bailouts like the ones already handed to Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
But so far, there have been no pledges from the IMF's largest shareholder, the United States. Washington has already set aside $171 billion in available loans to the fund, but has yet to ratify a 2010 commitment to increase funding by $60 billion, and an agreement is not likely in a U.S. election year.
Lagarde on Thursday said the world's economic fortunes have begun to recover from the global recession. But she warned about new threats that could cause further trouble.
“If I was to use a weather analogy, because we are all very fond of weather reports, we are seeing light recovery, and blowing in a spring wind. But we are also seeing some very dark clouds on the horizon, which is another way to tell you there is a bit of a recovery, timid and a fragile situation with still high risks.”
She said the risks include high unemployment throughout the world, renewed economic stresses in Europe for debt-ridden countries and slow economic growth.
The 17-nation European bloc that uses the euro has pledged $200 billion of the new IMF funds, with Japan saying it will contribute $60 billion. Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Poland and Denmark have also said they would loan the International Monetary Fund more money to support its global lending efforts.
