LOS CABOS: After searching for months for cash, the IMF looks able to firm up a huge emergency "firewall" fund for crisis prevention after China said Sunday that big emerging economies would chip in.

A day before the Group of 20 powers open crucial talks on the eurozone crisis, Chinese Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said that the International Monetary Fund would get the balance it needs to reach the $430 billion it tentatively announced in April.

Major European and Asian governments have already pledged around $340 billion to the bailout fund, and Zhu said: "China is confident that the IMF will realize its $430 billion, and China will pitch in."

"During this Los Cabos summit a specific amount will be announced," he told reporters ahead of the G20 summit in the Mexican resort of Los Cabos.

Zhu gave no figure, but said that Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, the current G20 leader who met with Chinese President Hu Jintao earlier Sunday, was confident of raising "over $430 billion".

The issue has been a point of nervousness in recent months as the eurozone situation has deteriorated, increasing the possibility that more IMF funds will be needed to help countries vulnerable to financial contagion.

The IMF said late last year that it needed more "firepower" for emergency aid. But when G20 finance ministers and central bankers met in Washington in April, the IMF pulled in just $340 billion in firm commitments.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 19th June 2012