IMF welcomes Eastern Europe plan
The World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and European Investment Bank (EIB) launched a two-year programme of up to 24.5 billion euros ($31.2 billion) on Friday in the region.
The programme will provide quick, large-scale financing to banks and ensure that companies, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises, get access to capital.
"The IMF welcomes the joint action plan...to support banking systems and real sector lending in eastern Europe," said IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn in a statement. "This initiative, launched earlier today, will help mitigate the effects of the financial crisis on credit flows in the region," he said.
"The joint efforts under this initiative will assist individual financial institutions and sectors, while IMF lending will continue to support countries at the macroeconomic level."
