German govt reportedly disagrees with IMF emergency credit line renewal - Handelsblatt
- IMF to request renewal of $430B emergency credit line that was put in place after the 2008 financial crisis, but Germany does not want to renew its own €41.5B credit line to the IMF, arguing the fund already has sufficient resources.
The International Monetary Fund and Germany disagree over renewing hundreds of billions of dollars in emergency credit lines that were given to the fund in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, Handelsblatt has learned.
During its next annual fall meetings, the IMF would like member states to renew the bilateral credit lines totaling $430 billion, a high-ranking IMF official told Handelsblatt.
Germany believes the international organization’s resources are sufficient and does not want to renew its own credit line of €41.5 billion ($46.8 billion).
“The fund’s current resource situation is pretty comfortable,” said Andreas Dombret, a board member of the Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank.
Instead, Mr. Dombret said the IMF should consider raising additional contributions from its member states if it truly needs additional cash. New funds “would not necessarily have to be new bilateral loans. A stronger focus on proven instruments would also be conceivable,” Mr. Dombret told Handelsblatt.