IMF ready to help many nations

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- The International Monetary Fund says it is ready to lend billions to countries affected by the fallout from global financial crisis.

"I have been on the phone with leaders in several capitals who have asked the Fund for assistance," IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in a statement.

The countries with which the IMF is having talks on loan packages include Hungary, Iceland, Pakistan and Ukraine.

The agency said it is in discussions with several other countries about possible financing needs and is providing confidential policy advice to emerging and developing economies on how to deal with the crisis, an IMF news release said.

"We are ready to act very quickly, with streamlined conditions attached," Strauss-Kahn said.

IMF loans usually come with tough conditions such as cuts in government spending and taxes and financial reforms which many developing countries may be reluctant to accept because of their internal political situations.

The IMF says it has more than $200 billion in funds that it can lend. It can also draw on more through standing borrowing arrangements with groups of IMF member countries.