German fin min: no chance of US boosting IMF funds

BERLIN Dec 19 (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble sees no chance of the United States increasing its contribution to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) because of opposition in Congress, he told German radio on Monday.

Euro zone leaders have agreed to offer 150 billion euros in bilateral loans to the IMF to raise its crisis-fighting capacity while up to 50 billion euros more is expected to come from non-euro European countries and possibly more from outside Europe.

"Washington cannot make bilateral loans available to the IMF without Congress approving it, that's the way it's done in the United States. And there's no chance of that and the American government has always made that clear," he said.