IMF welcomes EU aid pledge

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WASHINGTON, March 21 (AFP): The International Monetary Fund said yesterday that the European Union's pledge to lend it some 100 billion dollars was a key step toward stabilising the teetering global financial system.
"I welcome the announcement today by the European Union to support the IMF lending capacity," IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Khan said in a statement.
"This leadership from the European Union, like the one already demonstrated by the government of Japan, is an important step toward stabilizing the global financial system during this period of unprecedented stress," he said.
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country currently holds the bloc's presidency, announced earlier that EU leaders had agreed Friday to add 75 billion euros (101 billion dollars) to the IMF's lending capacity for struggling countries.
Japan has pledged a 100-billion-dollar loan to the IMF, whose resources to shore up battered economies are under strain from the most severe global economic crisis since the 1930s.
"We hope that other countries may now provide their own support to our efforts to restore stability to the global economy," the IMF chief said.