Johannesburg - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) management and staff will explore options for increasing the fund's firepower, subject to adequate safeguards.
This is according to IMF managing director Christine Lagarde.
She made the statement late on Tuesday following an executive board discussion on the adequacy of fund resources.
"Today's discussion on the adequacy of fund resources was a welcome opportunity to assess whether they are sufficient for the IMF to fulfil its mandate and to play a full and constructive role in securing global stability.
"Following the request of our membership last year through the International Monetary and Financial Committee and the general support by the G20 leaders at the Cannes summit, today's discussion was an important step."
Lagarde said the biggest challenge was to respond to the present crisis in an adequate manner.
She added that many executive directors had stressed the necessity and urgency of collective efforts to contain the debt crisis in the euro area and protect economies around the world from spillovers and excessive output/income contractions.
"In this context, they welcomed the recently announced commitment of European members to contribute to the fund's resources, while stressing the importance of European firewalls and other policies being sufficiently strong to respond to the crisis in the euro area."
This is according to IMF managing director Christine Lagarde.
She made the statement late on Tuesday following an executive board discussion on the adequacy of fund resources.
"Today's discussion on the adequacy of fund resources was a welcome opportunity to assess whether they are sufficient for the IMF to fulfil its mandate and to play a full and constructive role in securing global stability.
"Following the request of our membership last year through the International Monetary and Financial Committee and the general support by the G20 leaders at the Cannes summit, today's discussion was an important step."
Lagarde said the biggest challenge was to respond to the present crisis in an adequate manner.
She added that many executive directors had stressed the necessity and urgency of collective efforts to contain the debt crisis in the euro area and protect economies around the world from spillovers and excessive output/income contractions.
"In this context, they welcomed the recently announced commitment of European members to contribute to the fund's resources, while stressing the importance of European firewalls and other policies being sufficiently strong to respond to the crisis in the euro area."