The IMF was promised $500 billion in extra resources at the April G20 summit in London, as part of a $1.1 trillion package to boost the global economy.
The coffers have been looking a bit light, with the IMF saying at the end of July it had pledges of a little more than $200 billion.
But things have started to hot up this week.
EU finance ministers agreed to increase their contribution to 125 billion euros ($178 billion), from around $100 billion pledged in March.
Britain also said it was ready to provide $11 billion in extra funds, taking its total contribution to $26 billion.
China signed a deal this week to buy $50 billion in an IMF bond denominated in the IMF’s unit of account, the special drawing right (SDR).
Investors will be looking to see whether Brazil and Russia follow suit, as they have also expressed interest in buying an IMF SDR bond.
Brazil, Russia, India and China — the four biggest emerging economies – may be issuing their own communique this weekend, possibly ahead of the final G20 statement.
A reward for more contributions could be a greater say on the IMF’s board. The U.S. is pressing for the G20 summit in Pittsburgh to agree to give emerging countries greater voting power at the IMF, G20 officials told Reuters this week.
“The G20 are showing they mean business,” says Simon Quijano-Evans, emerging Europe economist at Cheuvreux in Vienna.
Could this finally mean goodbye G7, hello G20?
