Getting your player ready...
PARIS — The finance chiefs of the world’s leading economies opened the door Saturday for the International Monetary Fund to play a bigger role in fighting the euro zone’s escalating debt troubles.
The Group of 20 rich and developing nations asked the IMF to propose ways it could help stop countries under severe market pressure from toppling into a full-blown crisis with potential global repercussions.
The move appeared aimed at Italy and Spain, the euro zone’s third- and fourth-largest economies, which have seen their funding costs spike amid growing worries over the currency union’s stability. The rest of Europe cannot afford to bail out Spain or Italy should they run out of money.
