WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The International Monetary Fund on Friday announced it had received commitments for more than $430 billion in new resources from its member nations in a show of force to financial markets that it can handle any renewed financial crisis.
�It really shows the resolve of the international community to have available the tools in the tool kit to resist and defend against crisis,� said IMF managing director Christine Lagarde at a press conference.
The hunt for new resources was not a cliff-hanger. The euro-area alone had pledged $200 billion to the IMF last month and analysts had expected the Washington-based institution would be able to hit its target of $400 billion.
The new resources almost double the IMF�s lending capacity.
The U.S. and Canada remained on the sidelines, saying Europe had the resources to meet any new crisis.
A U.S. official said the euro-zone needed to continue to develop flexible policies to respond to conditions given the hard road ahead for many of the countries involved
Still, the new funds should give the IMF a major voice in resolving the debt crisis in Europe which has recently flared up again after a few months of calm.
The IMF already has rescue packages with Greece, Portugal and Ireland. Financial markets fear that Spain does not have the funds to pay its debts and will need an assistance package.
!The size of the Spanish economy dwarfs the other three European countries that received aid.
Spanish Finance Minister Luis de Guindos told reporters that finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 influential countries supported his government�s reform agenda and there had been no discussion of external financing assistance, according to Dow Jones.
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