Europe pledges more funds for IMF

BERLIN - The leaders of Germany, Britain, France, and Italy yesterday said that the resources of the International Monetary Fund should be doubled, to $500 billion, to help head off new problems in countries already hit hard by the global economic and financial crisis.

The officials also said, in a statement clearly aimed at hedge funds and other big private pools of capital, that "all financing markets and participants" need to fall under regulation in the future. And they vowed to make a tough push against tax havens.

With one eye on a crisis that is rapidly spreading to Eastern Europe and even countries that use the euro, the leaders highlighted the crisis-prevention role of the IMF, an institution whose relevance to the current global economy seemed in doubt only a few years ago.

"The IMF's resources must be doubled to enable it to help its members swiftly and flexibly when they experience difficulties," Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said.

Last week Peer Steinbrück, the German finance minister, suggested that Berlin would help finance rescues for other countries if necessary, despite European treaties designed to promote fiscal self-reliance and a longstanding German reluctance to bankroll crises in neighboring countries. The French president, Nicholas Sarkozy, endorsed the idea as well yesterday as leaders looked to the IMF as the best way to help deserving countries.

"If someone needs solidarity they can count on their partners," Sarkozy said.

Merkel, the host of the meeting, and her allies appeared to have persuaded Britain to endorse major regulatory changes, reversing a long-held stance.

The meeting was intended to hammer out a common European position ahead of the London meeting of the G20, a group of industrialized economies and developing countries, in April.