FUNDING:BRITISH PRIME minister David Cameron and the chancellor, George Osborne, have made clear that Britain will not contribute to the euro zone bailout fund for Greece or any IMF support targeted at shoring up the single currency.
But the UK is ready to support an increase in overall IMF funding, which could see more British taxpayers’ money going into loans to rescue individual European countries facing financial meltdown. At present, the UK provides £29 billion of the IMF’s $950 billion (£600 billion) lending capacity. Sources last night rejected suggestions that UK reluctance to offer financial support for the euro zone bailout left the prime minister a “spectator” at yesterday’s summit.
Mr Cameron sees it as important for Britain to maintain pressure on the euro zone to sort out its problems and to encourage the G20 nations – who together make up 85 per cent of world GDP – to send a clear message that they are committed to taking the action necessary to boost confidence and support global economic recovery.
Yesterday he told MPs that further progress on the euro zone deal was “urgent” for the whole world. “It has become even more urgent to put meat on the bones of this plan to show that we’re removing one of the key obstacles to global growth, which is the failure to agree a proper plan to deal with problems in the euro zone,” he said. – (PA)