It is no secret that IMF head Christine Lagarde wants a massive increase in the size of the IMF's bailout fund. She's been lobbying publicly along those lines for the past month.
What is new is the dollar figure now being floated. Keep in mind as you read this story that U.S. taxpayers contribute roughly 18% of all IMF funds, so the $3.5 trillion headline figure means $700 billion from the United States.
Any IMF funding increase would have to be approved by Congress, and judging by the blistering response below from Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rogers (the leading U.S. anti-IMF advocate), it will not be an easy sell.
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NOTE - In the excerpt below we have changed all figures to U.S. dollars.
Source - Daily Mail
Sources in Washington said the IMF’s pot of cash could be expanded to $3.5 trillion.
Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the IMF, said the current war chest of around $350 billion ‘pales in comparison with the potential financing needs of vulnerable countries’ and needs to be expanded to deal with ‘worst-case scenarios’.
Following crisis talks in Washington at the weekend, Mrs Lagarde said: ‘The Fund’s credibility, and hence effectiveness, rests on its perceived capacity to cope with worst-case scenarios. Our lending capacity looks comfortable today but pales in comparison with the potential financing needs of vulnerable countries and crisis bystanders. It will be useful to discuss, soon, the needs and contingency options.’... more
