Finance leaders endorse G7 plan

By Lesley Wroughton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Finance leaders from the International Monetary Fund's 185 member countries on Saturday endorsed a plan by major economies to chart a course out of the credit crisis, hoping the broader support will calm markets.

Egyptian Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali, who chairs the IMF's policy-steering committee, said the fact that 185 countries, including emerging and developing economies, supported the Group of Seven plan should help restore confidence in financial markets.

"We are committed to the plan of action," Boutros-Ghali said, "This is an essential element for restoring confidence," he added.

The G7 on Friday vowed to take all necessary steps to unfreeze credit markets and ensure banks can raise money, and the IMF warned that concerns about more bank failures was pushing the global financial system to the brink of meltdown.

"This is a systemic crisis and therefore it requires systemic measures," Boutros-Ghali, the new chairman of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, told a news conference.

In a communique, the panel said the size and scale of the crisis called "for exceptional vigilance, coordination, and readiness to take bold action."

The financial crisis has dominated weekend meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, and distracted from Boutros-Ghali's appointment as the first finance minister from an emerging economy to head the IMF panel after years of European dominance.

"The mood in the IMFC was a mood of resolve, of unity, of focus, and of a decision by the membership that this requires cohesion. And that cohesion has been achieved today," Boutros-Ghali told the news conference with IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn.