DAVOS, Switzerland (MNI) – The eurozone needs to help itself by
establishing a convincing firewall before its G-20 partners including
the U.K. are likely to want to help boost the funds at the IMF’s
disposal, U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said Saturday.
Speaking on a panel at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic
Forum, Osborne said, “The eurozone needs to provide a significant
increase in available resources.”
“In other words it has to be a deployable firewall … and I think
the eurozone leaders understand that, that there aren’t going to be
further contributions from the G20 countries to the IMF unless we see
the color of their money.”
“If those conditions are met, then certainly Britain would think
very carefully about providing additional resources,” he said.
“More needs to be done,” he emphasized. “I think the eurozone
understands that, and I think it needs to happen in the next few weeks.”
A credible firewall is “key to unlocking further confidence,” he
added.
“I think there is a case for increasing IMF resources,” he said.
However, he warned, the experience of the U.K. and the U.S. shows
that “ultimately…you have to transfer fiscal resources around the
country” to offset differences in competitivity.
“Those fiscal transfers are going to be a permanent feature of a
euro that works,” he asserted.
–Frankfurt bureau tel.: +49-69-720142. Email: dbarwick@marketnews.com
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