Addis Ababa 18 March-(ANA)-The International Monetary Fund, IMF,should be allowed to sell some of its gold reserves to cushion Africa from the global economic crisis, Ethiopia’s prime minister, Meles Zenawi, has said ahead of next month’s G20 summit.
Zenawi, representing the continent, said the sell-off could raise between $5bn (€3.8bn, £3.6bn) and $15bn, which should be channelled through the IMF, World Bank and other multilateral institutions.
Africa needed short-term increases in development assistance of between $30bn and $50bn to offset declining trade and investment.
The availability of such funds was a matter of life and death, Mr Meles said in an interview with the London Financial Times newspaper.
“We are seeking a much smaller stimulus package than is being spent bailing out the small and medium-sized banks in the west,” Mr Meles said. (ANA)
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