The government's financial accounts released by Treasury on Friday showed that New Zealand made an extra contribution to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of NZ$130 million that was not included in Treasury's forecasts before the election last year. Contributions to the IMF depend on the IMF's situation and given the current situation, they've increased funding calls from member countries, Treasury said. The extra funding had not been forecast because at the time Treasury put out its forecast, the IMF had not released their funding call. In the past the IMF funding calls made no impact (on New Zealand's accounts), as they were usually neutral, Treasury said. Leaders at the G20 summit in London have just promised to triple the amount the IMF can lend to crisis-riddled nations to US$750 billion, as well as giving it US$250 billion in Special Drawing Rights (a type of overdraft) for its members. The latest news of an IMF bailout has come from Mexico, which asked for a US$47 billion credit line from the IMF this week. Other nations to secure funding in the last six months include Ukraine, Iceland and Pakistan.
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