Japan is to provide $60bn to the International Monetary Fund’s effort to expand its resources, pledging to lead the global effort to prevent Europe’s sovereign debt crisis from weighing on economies around the world.
The decision was warmly greeted in Berlin, where officials say the German government is hoping for members of the G20 group of leading industrial countries to agree to top up IMF resources with at least $400bn in new money this week.
European countries have already promised to provide $150bn from the eurozone and $50bn from the non-eurozone members of the European Union, including the UK, although London has yet to give a clear indication of its likely contribution. The Japanese decision will raise the pressure on the UK to be generous.