Countries Boost Emergency Funding for IMF to $456 Billion

Countries firm up commitments to increase IMF resources

Total reaches $456 billion from 37 countries

Resources available to meet the potential financing needs of all IMF members

“Countries large and small have rallied to our call for action,” said IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde. “I salute them and their commitment to multilateralism. As a result, the total pledged has risen to $456 billion, almost doubling our lending capacity.”

Lagarde was attending a meeting of the Group of 20 (G-20) industrialized and emerging market countries in Los Cabos, Mexico.

Collective effort

“With today's announcements, some 37 of the IMF’s member countries, representing about three-fifths of total quota in the organization, have joined this collective effort, demonstrating the broad commitment of the membership to ensure the IMF has access to adequate resources to carry out its mandate in the interests of global financial stability,” she said.

In April, the G-20 and the broader membership of the IMF had pledged a total of $430 billion to help reinforce the IMF at a time of global uncertainty, particularly because of the crisis in Europe.

The IMF, which has 188 member countries, stressed that the new resources would be available for crisis prevention and resolution and to meet the potential financing needs of all IMF members. It provided a detailed list of amounts being contributed by different countries.

They will be drawn only if they are needed as a second line of defense after resources already...