Eurozone crisis: 'Right' to boost IMF funds - Cameron

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15567919

 

Prime Minister David Cameron has told the BBC it is "right" to consider boosting funds to the International Monetary Fund at a time of crisis.

 

Mr Cameron, in Cannes for a meeting of the G20 countries, said there was "no risk" to British taxpayers.

 

The BBC's Nick Robinson says it could mean eurozone nations like Greece are indirectly helped by British taxpayers.

 

The government says it is ready to give more money to the IMF - but not if it is reserved for eurozone nations.

 

In Cannes, the UK prime minister told the BBC: "I'm here to support the British economy. When the world is in crisis it is right to consider boosting the IMF."

 

He added: "No government lost money by lending money to the IMF. There is no risk to British taxpayers of seeing the IMF perform its proper role that's what we have always supported."

 

His spokeswoman said the UK would not contribute "directly or indirectly" to the eurozone bail-out fund.

 

The UK currently provides £29bn ($46bn) of the IMF's £600bn ($950bn) lending capacity.

 

About £4.9bn of UK money is held in the IMF's fund but it could draw down up to £29.4bn from the Treasury in certain circumstances.

Continue reading the main story

 

But Nick Robinson said those struggling countries around the world helped by the IMF "might of course just include a few in the eurozone getting money in effect from the British taxpayer".

 

He said the government now believed there were only three ways out of the eurozone crisis - that the deal agreed last week gets back on track, despite the surprise announcement about a Greek referendum, that Greece leaves the euro or that IMF funding be boosted for struggling eurozone countries.

 

In a statement to MPs - sparked by an urgent question from Eurosceptic Conservative backbencher Peter Bone - Treasury Minister Mark Hoban told MPs that "at no point have we committed any British taxpayers money... to Greece or the bail-out fund".

 

But he said there "may well be a case for further increasing the resources of the IMF" to "keep pace" with the size of the global economy.

 

"We are prepared to see an increase in the resources the IMF makes available to all members." But he said they were "not prepared" to see IMF resources reserved for use by the eurozone.

 

Meanwhile, French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel have warned that the next 8bn euro (£7bn) of rescue loans for Greece will be withheld until after a bailout referendum, expected in early December.

 

The two leaders held talks on Wednesday evening with Greek prime minister George Papandreou to press him to end uncertainty about his country's future in the single currency.

 

Last week Mr Papandreou announced a surprise referendum on the rescue package drawn up for Greece, indicating its referendum question would focus on whether or not to stay in the eurozone.

 

Mr Sarkozy hopes to use the summit in Cannes to persuade cash-rich exporter nations like China to contribute to a one trillion euro (£870bn) European stability fund.

 

On Wednesday, Mr Cameron told MPs that securing a eurozone deal was "urgent" for the global economy.

 

"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 eurozone," he said.

 

Labour leader Ed Miliband said: "As we saw in 2008, a global economic crisis can only be addressed by global economic leadership. There has been precious little of that in evidence in the past 18 months.

 

"Now is the time to turn the corner. To set out a plan that addresses the reality of faltering growth and rising unemployment - a plan that faces up to the G20 leaders' first responsibility: the responsibility to lead."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Cameron Double-speak at it's worst/best depending on how you look at it... Basically, what he means is "Shit, I'll never get my lot to sign off on the Eurozone Bail-out Fund to bail out the Eurozone, so I'll propose giving more money to the IMF... To Bail out the Eurozone..."

 

AND THE DIFFERENCE IS....? -_- It's still a case of British tax-payers bailing out the banks again (but this time European ones like Societe Generale, BNP and Deutsche Bank, who basically are technically insolvent and need this bail out cash or they're as f***ed as Lehmans..) for the bad bets and bad loans they made to countries like Greece, Spain, Portugal, etc.... We're not "helping" those countries, we're helping the banks... This is not "charity", this is not "aid" and dont let anyone kid you that it is, or that we're doing anyone any favours, the IMF has never been a charity and has never "helped" anyone without imposing pretty harsh conditions.... Oh, and while we're doing all this, in our own country public services are being cut, supposedly because we have no money...

 

 

While I like the fact that he's going to piss off the xenophobes within his own party, this sounds like a completely duff deal.

While I like the fact that he's going to piss off the xenophobes within his own party, this sounds like a completely duff deal.

 

As far as I can see ALL these bail-outs are is just a bit like re-arranging the deck-chairs on the Titanic... The "Too Big To Fail" Banks are all insolvent.... They are basically zombies, and we're feeding them our "flesh" in the form of public money in order to keep them going when the life has really gone out of them long ago... The BBC with that ridiculously biased anti-benefits programming they've been doing recently has implied that all of society's ills are because of the Welfare State... WRONG. Our problems are really with not allowing an orderly failure/break-up of these banks and we just continue to pump money into them at these current alarming rates and even going so far as to print money that doesn't really have any value...

 

As far as I can see ALL these bail-outs are is just a bit like re-arranging the deck-chairs on the Titanic... The "Too Big To Fail" Banks are all insolvent.... They are basically zombies, and we're feeding them our "flesh" in the form of public money in order to keep them going when the life has really gone out of them long ago... The BBC with that ridiculously biased anti-benefits programming they've been doing recently has implied that all of society's ills are because of the Welfare State... WRONG. Our problems are really with not allowing an orderly failure/break-up of these banks and we just continue to pump money into them at these current alarming rates and even going so far as to print money that doesn't really have any value...

 

One BBC article doesn't mean the entire corporation is convinced the welfare state is more at fault than the banks - it just means that the one "rogue" badly written and biased article happens to be about benefit fraudsters rather than dodgy bankers...

One BBC article doesn't mean the entire corporation is convinced the welfare state is more at fault than the banks - it just means that the one "rogue" badly written and biased article happens to be about benefit fraudsters rather than dodgy bankers...

 

Two documentaries in the space of a week though, mate... Suggests something a bit iffy to me.... -_-

 

Two documentaries in the space of a week though, mate... Suggests something a bit iffy to me.... -_-

 

I'm still sceptical, maybe partially out of optimism. The issue with bringing up what happens with the bankers is that it is, by its nature, distinctly political. Therefore it's very difficult for the BBC to report on the disgusting bonuses being handed out in the City without being accused of political bias. Benefit cheats are far easier to report on without getting involved in partisan politics.

I'm still sceptical, maybe partially out of optimism. The issue with bringing up what happens with the bankers is that it is, by its nature, distinctly political. Therefore it's very difficult for the BBC to report on the disgusting bonuses being handed out in the City without being accused of political bias. Benefit cheats are far easier to report on without getting involved in partisan politics.

 

Considering both Tory and Nu Labour are in it up to their necks with the banks, I'm not sure that's true... Gordon Brown created the terminally crap Financial Services Authority who were about as much use as a fish-net condom when it came to "safe-guarding" the integrity of the financial system. And now Tony Blair works as a mouthpiece for J P Morgan.... So, seems to me there's enough plague on both of their houses to make it not biased in favour of one or the other...

Considering both Tory and Nu Labour are in it up to their necks with the banks, I'm not sure that's true... Gordon Brown created the terminally crap Financial Services Authority who were about as much use as a fish-net condom when it came to "safe-guarding" the integrity of the financial system. And now Tony Blair works as a mouthpiece for J P Morgan.... So, seems to me there's enough plague on both of their houses to make it not biased in favour of one or the other...

 

You know full well we don't live in a two-party system though.