IMF chief urges world cooperation to fight credit crisis

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WASHINGTON, Oct 11 (Internet): The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, urgently called Friday for "cooperative" actions to boost confidence and ease a global financial crisis.
"The world must act quickly, forcefully and cooperatively to contain the ongoing financial and economic downturn," Strauss-Kahn, the IMF managing director, said in a speech to the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.
Strauss-Kahn stressed that financial market turmoil, stemming a year ago from problems in the US real estate market, had developed into a crisis of confidence.
"What will restore confidence is government intervention which is clear, comprehensive and cooperative among countries," he said.
"The private sector cannot restore confidence on its own. Macroeconomic policy measures by governments will not restore confidence on their own. Piecemeal measures on financial markets will not restore confidence on their own," he said.
"We will activate emergency procedures to respond quickly to urgent requests."
Strauss-Kahn was speaking ahead of a meeting of Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers and central bank governors later in the day in Washington against a backdrop of massive turmoil and strains on the stock and credit markets.
Earlier in the week, all their central banks, except Japan, jointly cut interest rates by half a point in an unprecedented step which failed to steady investor nerves for more than a few moments.
The panic on the stock markets continued Friday, suffering staggering losses as investors sought the safety of cash at all costs.