20100918
reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund said on Friday it had raised $8 billion in new resources for poor countries from four donors, including China which has a growing presence in Africa.

The IMF said in a statement it had signed financing agreements with Britain, Japan, China and France as part of fund-raising efforts that would allow it to offer low-cost loans to the world's poorest countries.

In July last year the IMF unveiled a plan to help developing nations hard hit by the global financial crisis and recession by boosting lending by up to $17 billion through 2014. It also suspended interest payments on loan payments through the end of 2011 to temporarily free up resources for governments.

Funds for the effort have already been received from Norway, Spain, the Netherlands and Canada. The IMF is also raising money for poor countries by selling 403.3 tonnes of its gold holdings.

IMF lending to poor countries rose sharply to $3.8 billion in 2009 from $1.2 billion in 2008, and just 0.2 billion in 2007.

So far in 2010 commitments of $1.7 billion have been made to developing countries under the low-cost lending program.

The announcement on funds for poor countries comes days before a meeting of 140 world leaders at the United Nations to assess goals launched in 2000 to cut global poverty by 2015.