Friday, December 9, 2011

IMF's Lagarde praises euro deal,urges wider action

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde 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 International Monetary Fund leader today praised an agreement by all 17 members of the euro zone and nine other countries to negotiate a new agreement alongside the European Union treaty with a tougher deficit and debt regime to avoid a repetition of the debt crisis in future.

EU countries also agreed to provide up to 200 billion euros ($266.24 billion)in bilateral loans to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help it tackle the crisis, with 150 billion euros ($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.