Chancellor tells EU to put up or shut up on funding
Friday 27 January 2012
Printable
EmailEurozone countries must show "the colour of their money" in shoring up the single currency before any IMF funds are given to members facing economic collapse, George Osborne said today.
Mr Osborne delcared Britain "ready to play our part" in boosting IMF resources to bail out struggling European economies - though only if a strict criteria was met.
Britain is expected to be asked to up its contributions to the global body as it seeks to raise an additional $500 billion (£320bn) - which could mean an additional liability of around £17bn.
Some senior Tory MPs are angry at suggestions the government will meet that request as they fear the additional contributions will be used to prop up the eurozone.
Parliament has previously approved around £40bn in support for the IMF, of which about £30bn has already been committed.
"All that is required is the political agreement to make those resources available on a credible timescale," he told an event in Davos, Switzerland.
But Britain also had to deal with its own "colossal debts and imbalances" and "win the argument" that open markets and enterprise were the solution not the cause, the Chancellor declared.
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