Canada’s Flaherty Says IMF Resources Not ‘Central’ to Crisis

(See EXT4 <GO> for more on the debt crisis and GMEET <GO> for G-20 meeting.)

Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said raising additional resources for the International Monetary Fund should not become the focus of a solution to the European debt crisis.

Flaherty, speaking to reporters in Paris ahead of a meeting of policy makers from the Group of 20 countries, said officials need to avoid focusing on non-central issues such as new funding for the IMF. He said that some countries are pushing for a larger role for the Washington-based institution.

Flaherty also said the statement that the G-20 will release after tomorrow’s meeting is not likely to be very different from a statement issued last month. One change he’d like to see would be to add “moderate” language on foreign-exchange flexibility, Flaherty said.

--Editors: Fergal O’Brien, Eddie Buckle

To contact the reporter on this story: Theophilos Argitis in Ottawa at targitis@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at cstirling1@bloomberg.net