Japan to provide IMF with $50 billion

Japan is ready to contribute 50 billion dollars to the International Monetary Fund's efforts to contain the European debt crisis. Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi conveyed this to IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde by phone on Thursday, Japan's (NHK WORLD) website reported on Sunday. The IMF is aiming to expand its lending sources to as much as 500 billion dollars in an attempt to prevent the crisis from spreading outside the eurozone countries. The G20 finance ministers will begin meetings in Washington on Thursday of next week. Attention is focused on whether the member countries can agree to provide the IMF with the amounts it is seeking from each. Japan was one of the first countries to pledge funds after the Lehman shock of 2008, with a loan of 100 billion dollars to the IMF.