France Provides IMF with 11 Billion Euro

France made 11 billion euro (15 billion dollars) available to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help the fund “fight new crises,” the French Minister of Economy, Christine Lagarde, said today.

The funding represents a contribution of the French government to increase of IMF resources, committed by leaders at the G20 Summit in April in London.

“The IMF Executive Board approved on Monday a loan agreement by which France made available to the Fund an amount of 11.06 billion euro, to enable the institution to play a full role in efforts to combat the crisis. These funds will be not transferred immediately, but only at the request of the IMF” said Lagardère.

Leaders of the largest developed and emerging economies of the world, the G20 group, agreed in April to triple the financial resources of the IMF, by increasing the funds available to the institution from 250 billion dollars to 750 billion dollars.

The measure aims to increase the capacity of institutions to combat the global finance crisis. EU member states have promised to contribute, in total, 75 billion to the global effort.

Lagardère has also stated to France is the first EU Member State which received the opinion of the IMF for additional contribution. Separately, Lagardère announced that France will provide the Fund of one billion dollars for financing lending agreement to poor countries, especially in Africa.