IMF 'ready to help' with emergency facility

By economy Friday October 10 2008 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday that it was ready to help countries affected by the raging global credit crunch and had activated an emergency financing mechanism first used in the 1990s Asian crisis. The fund already has a mission in Iceland, where the government has seized control of its largest bank, and has warned that the worst financial crisis since the 1930s Great Depression could inflict lasting economic harm on the world. "Yesterday I activated emergency procedures so the IMF can respond quickly... to be able to answer problems that may happen in some of the emerging countries," IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a news conference. "We are ready to answer any demand by countries facing problems," he added. Panic over toxic US mortgage loans has... [read full story]