World leaders have baulked at writing new cheques to help bail out the eurozone, demanding its own governments first do more to fix the two-year-old debt crisis.
Global policymakers demanded more details of a week-old rescue package before they would commit fresh cash to the International Monetary Fund, which could then lend to Europe's bailout facility, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at the end of a Group of 20 summit in Cannes, France. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that a deal might not come before February.
"The worst thing to do would be to try and cook up a number without being clear who was agreeing to what," British Prime Minister David Cameron said after the two-day summit. "The job of the IMF is to help countries in distress, not support currency systems."
The refusal of major economies to stump up money now reflected irritation with Europe's failure to resolve its crisis and foiled investor hopes that the summit would mark a turning point. The turmoil instead flared again before Greece's Government survived a confidence vote in Parliament on Saturday and Italy's Premier, Silvio Berlusconi, accepted IMF monitoring.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou won the vote after saying he would begin discussions with the opposition on creating a unity government to reach accord on a European aid package needed to avert default.
"There really are hardly any countries here that said they will join up" with the European Financial Stability Facility, Merkel told reporters, as she committed Europe to speeding up implementation of an October 27 accord to boost the power of its EFSF rescue fund, recapitalise banks and write down Greece's debt. European and US stocks fell, as did the euro.
In a statement blaming Europe for fanning financial market tensions, the G20 said it would ensure the IMF "continues to have resources to play its systemic role" and left it to its finance chiefs to debate how to provide them.
The leaders approved a plan in which Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs Group and 26 other banks would face additional capital buffers. The G20 also agreed to limit the risks posed by so-called "too big to fail" banks and called on regulators to examine the effect of credit-default swaps on bond prices.
They vowed to "move more rapidly towards market-determined" currencies, and in an appendix welcomed China's "determination" to increase the yuan's flexibility.
Options for bolstering the IMF's US$391 billion war chest when the time came included opening a trust fund or not rolling back a 2009 cash increase.
- BLOOMBERG