LOS CABOS, Mexico (Reuters) – The world’s biggest economies must commit to a strong Europe and open their wallets to boost the International Monetary Fund’s ability to contain fallout from Europe’s debt crisis, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said yesterday.
Calderon will host the Group of 20 leaders at a summit starting tomorrow in Mexico’s Pacific resort of Los Cabos, with the meeting overshadowed by crucial elections in Greece and mounting worries about Spain and Italy.
“Even though we don’t expect to reach specific agreements on Europe … I want to see language and promises which are much more oriented to a new, stronger Europe, a Europe of the 21st century,” Calderon told international news agencies.
Greece’s elections today could help decide whether the country will remain in the Eurozone, battling a debt crisis that has dragged on for 2 1/2 years. Calderon said it was important to be prepared for any scenario in terms of the result.
But Mexico’s first priority for the summit was to finalize G20 members’ pledges to give the IMF more crisis-fighting resources, he said.
In April, G20 countries pledged at least $430 billion in new loans to the IMF so it could help countries hit hardest by the debt crisis. But emerging market powers such as Brazil, China, Russia and Mexico itself have not yet said what specific amount they will contribute.
“I estimate that it could be a bigger capitalization,” Calderon said, referring to the sum agreed to in April and adding it was “a pity” that Canada and the United States were not chipping in.
Calderon would not be drawn on specifics of Mexico’s contribution, which should be at least $8 billion given the country’s share in the IMF’s capital.
He said it would be more than $1 billion, but would not comment on whether it would exceed $10 billion, the amount Brazil has named as a yardstick for its contribution.
