The International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday strongly backed the European Central Bank's plan to staunch the euro zone debt crisis with unlimited bond purchases, saying it was ready to get involved in designing and monitoring its implementation.

Speaking after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said large, debt-strapped euro zone countries Spain and Italy had taken enough action to repair their finances to merit aid from the rest of the European currency union.

But, amid pressure on Madrid to request a full European bailout, Ms Lagarde left open the scale of the IMF's possible involvement in ECB head Mario Draghi's plan, which was approved by the central bank's policy making council on Thursday.

Under Mr Draghi's plan, the ECB would stand ready to buy any amounts of sovereign debt with a term of up to three years, thereby ensuring a government's access to funding, in return for a bailout deal with tight strings attached.

Ms Largarde said: "Our sense is that now the euro partners know exactly what they have to do. As far as the IMF is concerned, we shall certainly be ready to help and to assist in the design and monitoring of eventual programmes."

She added: "Clearly, when we get involved, we want to be involved both in the design and the monitoring of programmes. We don't particularly like to do monitoring without having participated actively in the design."

Ms Lagarde left some wiggle room when asked whether the IMF would be prepared to deploy its balance sheet as part of the Draghi plan. She cited the monitoring and policy mix components of IMF engagement with some low-income countries.

TODAY