Somehow this is causing a stir today, but it's not entirely clear why. The US spent billions supporting a number of banks during the 2008 crisis including non-US banks such as Barclays in the UK. It would be nice if everyone had a much better idea about who is paying and who is receiving, but that might be asking for too much from the political class. The Telegraph:
“European leaders agreed to make bilateral loans to the IMF of as much as €200bn —with €150bn contributed by eurozone members and €50bn from other members of the EU,” it said.
The report relied on a briefing by IMF chief Christine Lagarde, who was in the room with EU leaders during last Friday’s summit talks. Britain is the EU’s only large economy outside the euro.
The EU statement contained no reference to the €50bn figure for non-eurozone states. “If Britain has really agreed to this, it is a huge deal,” said Julian Callow at Barclays Capital.
