IMF cheers new bank plan out of Paris

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- The head of the International Monetary Fund Sunday welcomed a plan by European leaders to use the euro to help stem a global financial meltdown.

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in a written statement that the euro-zone plan to buy into various banks was an encouraging sign that concrete steps were being taken at a time when action was needed.

"We can say almost all advanced countries are now covered by the plan; it will be even more the case in a few days when the European Council will meet and what has been done in the euro zone will possibly be extended to the rest of the European Union," said Strauss-Kahn.

The plan was announced in Paris earlier in the day.

The euro announcement came a day after G7 ministers met in Washington ahead of the IMF annual meeting that begins Monday. President Bush said Saturday the major industrialized nations were largely in agreement that a united front was needed to confront the wobbly condition of the world's financial markets.