IMF doubles borrowing limits for poor nations

WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday it will double the borrowing limits for poor countries as the global financial crisis spreads to the poorest regions of the world.

In a statement, the fund said the increase would be for countries that borrow under the IMF's widely used Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, and its Exogenous Shocks Facility.

"For most of this decade, low-income countries have been growing strongly, with declining inflation and reduced debt burdens," IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.

"But, over the past two years, they have been hit by a series of shocks, beginning with the escalation in food and fuel prices and now the global crisis." (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Neil Stempleman)