While European finance ministers pushed G20 colleagues for more funding for the International Monetary Fund, Canada's Jim Flaherty rejected an IMF bailout for the euro zone's debt crisis.
"Europe has the resources to deal with its own banking and sovereign debt issues," the Canadian finance minister told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel in an interview from a G20 meeting in Paris on Saturday. "These are relatively wealthy countries. The IMF has to look at the needs and resources of the whole world."
The two-day meeting of G20 finance ministers ended with a statement that called for boosting the IMF's funding.
"We committed that the IMF must have adequate resources to fulfill its systemic responsibilities," the statement said.
The issue of saving the eurozone from its debt troubles is expected to be at the top of the list when G20 leaders meet in Cannes next month.
France has led a push for the IMF to keep the crisis from spreading to Italy and Spain, two countries regarded as too big to be saved by the rest of Europe. The IMF has already supplied a third of the bailouts to Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
Flaherty expresses frustration
"It is frustrating because the issues have been very clear for many months now," Flaherty said by phone. "The European decision-making system has been very slow."
However, Canada's finance minister admitted he is satisfied that Europe finally recognizes the urgency of the debt crisis and has made the commitment to save its banks and deal with the Greek debt.
"The final step is to put meat on the bones of this," he said, adding he hoped the European Council would offer details of its plans after its meeting in Brussels next weekend.
Observers expect the euro zone's leaders to agree on the specifics of a their 440 billion euro ($600 billion) bailout which will recapitalize banks across the continent to ensure they can withstand worsening market turmoil, as well as a second bailout for Greece.
But IMF involvement would take it well beyond the fund's traditional role of providing rescue loans to cash-strapped countries.
On that point, Flaherty was adamant: "We have many poorer countries, impoverished countries that need IMF help before there's more resources for the euro zone."
U.S. shares concerns
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner also opposed giving more money to the IMF, although he appeared to leave the door open to a bigger IMF role in Europe.
"The members of the G20 have a strong interest in supporting Europe, and we will continue to do so through the IMF," Geithner said.
Officials warned earlier Saturday that an expansion of the role and funding of the IMF was far from a done deal, since it would force many poorer countries to help bail out Europe, one of the world's richest regions.
The U.S. and others have long argued that the eurozone has more than enough money to spend its way out of the crisis. Even Germany -- which pressed for the IMF to be included in the eurozone's crisis management in May 2010, when Greece became the first bailout victim -- said the fund already had enough resources.
The new managing director of the IMF, former French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, declined to comment in detail on the talks about new funding for her institution.
"What is indispensable is that IMF's resources are sufficient to meet the needs of its members," she told reporters after the meeting.
With files from The Associated Press
