The Swiss government decided on Wednesday to grant a credit line worth US$10 billion to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as an effort to help strengthen the international financial system.

"Switzerland is most interested in a rapid end to the crisis, and in a re-established stability of the international financial system," the Swiss Finance Ministry said in a statement.

"With its contribution Switzerland is assuming its international responsibility," the statement said.

According to the statement, while the tasks of the IMF in years of strong economic growth concentrated primarily on the surveillance of the economic and financial policies of its member states, the focus now is on its role in terms of financing and coordinating measures for crisis response.

Due to the extent of the global economic and financial crisis, steps are required to ensure that the IMF will have sufficient resources to support its member states, the statement said.

The ministry also welcomed a decision made by the Group of 20 (G20) major economies to raise funds for the IMF.

At a London summit last week, the G20 agreed to boost the IMF's available lending resources to US$750 billion, an increase of US$500 billion, so it could lend to states hit particularly hard by the financial crisis.

The Swiss funding, committed as part of the G20 effort, is still subject to parliament approval.

(Xinhua News Agency April 9, 2009)