Washington - Spa
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner demanded
Saturday that the eurozone make greater efforts to fight the global
economic crisis, in an address to the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) in Washington, dpa reported.
He said that \"impressive\" measures had been taken during the past
18 months, but added that more was necessary to \"create a firewall
against further contagion.\"
He demanded that European governments work together with the
European Central Bank (ECB) to demonstrate with \"unequivocal
commitment\" that states with sound fiscal policies had access to
affordable financing, and to ensure that banks had recourse to
adequate capital, \"to win the full confidence of their depositors and
creditors.\"
\"The threat of cascading default, bank runs and catastrophic risk
must be taken off the table, as otherwise it will undermine all other
efforts, both within Europe and globally,\" Geithner told the IMF
steering committee.