The International Monetary Fund announced Wednesday that its executive board approved a loan of 2.1 billion dollars for Iceland to help the country rebound from a dire financial crisis.

The two-year loan, accompanied by quarterly reviews, was designed `to support the country`s program to restore confidence and stabilize the economy,` the IMF said in a statement.

The International Monetary Fund announced Wednesday that its executive board approved a loan of 2.1 billion dollars for Iceland, which has been reeling from a financial crisis.

The two-year loan, accompanied by quarterly reviews, was designed `to support the country`s program to restore confidence and stabilize the economy,` the IMF said in a statement.

The head of the International Monetary Fund warned on Wednesday that the global financial crisis was far from over despite a recent slight thaw in the key credit markets.

`The credit freeze is no longer as hard as it was,` said Dominique Strauss-Kahn, but added: `There is a bit of circulation (of credit) but not enough for the system to function well.

WASHINGTON, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Global finance leaders over the weekend warned of continued friction on world markets and backed reform at the IMF, while the head of the World Bank invited China to join him in development work in poor countries.

Finance ministers and central bankers representing the Group of Seven industrialized powers, the International Monetary Fund and the Bank held a three-day parley in the shadow of recent upheavals on financial markets and growing currency imbalances.

WASHINGTON, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Global finance leaders at weekend meetings put a brave face on recent upheavals on world markets, insisting calm was returning, but offered investors no assurances an end to the turmoil was now in sight.

Finance ministers and central bankers from the world's most powerful nations, the Group of Seven, also steered clear of a brewing row between some members of the eurozone and the United States over the continued slide in the dollar.

WASHINGTON, Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - The IMF, under pressure to move with the times, backed reforms Saturday to give low-income countries a stronger voice in its decision-making and defended its response to recent financial market upheaval.

Policymakers from the International Monetary Fund also bowed to insistence from member contries that the Fund shore up its shaky finances, pledging to cut costs and boost efficiency.

WASHINGTON, Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - The International Monetary Fund pledged Saturday to boost the role of developing and poor countries in its decision-making and to take steps to solidify its shaky finances.

The commitments came in a final statement issued after a meeting here of the IMF's policy-making committee, held as the 63-year-old Fund was under pressure to move with the times and accord a louder voice to non-Western, non-industrialized countries.

WASHINGTON, Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Saturday the IMF and governments should draft codes of conduct for cash-rich state investment funds that have raised national interest concerns in the United States and Europe.

'The increase in size and number of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) ... has received increasing attention due to their potential implications for financial markets and investment,' Paulson told International Monetary Fund policymakers on the opening day of the annual IMF meeting here.

WASHINGTON, Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega slammed the International Monetary Fund Saturday for having been lax in its handling of a US housing-related credit crisis that roiled global markets.

'Allow me to point out the irony of this situation,' Mantega told IMF policymakers at the opening of annual meetings here of the IMF and the World Bank.

WASHINGTON, Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - International Monetary Fund policymakers convened Saturday under mounting pressure to overhaul their financially strapped institution and accord developing countries a greater say in its decision-making.

The IMF's 24-member steering committee is meeting at a time of transition, with the Fund about to get a new managing director, former French finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who has already vowed to pursue reform 'without delay.'