For some time, International Monetary Fund supremo Christine Lagarde has argued that a stronger “global firewall” is needed, to contain “any future financial crises”. Well, at this weekend’s IMF-World Bank meetings in Washington, she announced there are now “firm commitments” from member states to boost the IMF’s lending power.
The extra resources, Lagarde’s officials dutifully claimed, will be “available for the whole IMF membership, not earmarked for any particular region”. Everyone knows this is nonsense. This higher IMF firewall has been created because governments around the world are petrified the eurozone could implode, sparking another “Lehman moment”.
