EUROPE faced mounting pressure to quickly bailout debt-stricken Greece overnight amid fears the crisis could spread and threaten the global economic recovery.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner huddled with key officials from Greece, the IMF and European Union in Washington, a day after Athens asked for a massive bailout to stay afloat.
Focus quickly shifted to the speed of that rescue effort, as economic powers worried the crisis may spread to other eurozone nations, with Portugal, Italy, Spain or Ireland all in the firing line.
The Treasury Department said Mr Geithner pressed Greek finance minister George Papaconstantinou and EU officials to quickly implement financial reforms and roll out the bailout.
"Secretary Geithner encouraged them to move quickly to put in place a package of strong reforms and substantial concrete financial support," a statement said.
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Greece on Friday ended weeks of speculation that had permeated the eurozone by asking EU and the IMF for €45 billion to pay looming debts.
But Germany, the eurozone's biggest member, has balked at the idea of a bailout without substantial budget cuts.
The government of Chancellor Angela Merkel has demanded Greece take extra economic measures in 2011-2012, and says a failure to do so would threaten the stability of the euro.
German leaders, facing a key regional election in May, are under intense pressure to hold a hard line against Greece, with some members of Chancellor Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats bloc calling for Athens to be kicked out of the eurozone.
Political pressure has also been heaped on the Greek government as it cuts the national budget amid strikes and demonstrations.
But time is running out for Greece, which must pay lenders $US8.2 billion on May 19 or risk becoming the first eurozone country to default on its debt.
Ending Saturday's meeting of the IMF's 186 members, managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn addressed opposition to the bailout among the Greek people.
"Greek citizens shouldn't fear the IMF we are there to try to help them," he said.
Mr Strauss-Kahn had earlier promised the Fund will "move expeditiously" in response to Greece's appeal for help.
"We have been working closely with the Greek authorities for some weeks on technical assistance, and have had a mission on the ground in Athens for a few days working with the authorities and the European Union," he said.
The EU has said it sees no "obstacles" to Athens' request to activate a three-year joint EU-IMF rescue in the first year at concessionary interest rates of about 5.0 per cent, far below the levels being demanded by private lenders.
EU economic and monetary affairs chief Olli Rehn said Friday that EU members had worked intensively on details of a Greek rescue package and "should be able to complete the work by early May."
The stability of the euro -- which closed Friday up one US cent at $US1.3384 in New York -- is at stake as Greece wrestles with debt of around €300 billion.
Under a deal hammered out with EU leaders on April 11, the IMF would cover a third of the cost of the bailout.
IMF finance ministers meeting in Washington for an annual spring meeting also discussed measures to help sustain the global economic recovery.
"Signs of a strengthening economic recovery are encouraging but many challenges remain that need to be tackled collaboratively," IMF members said in a statement.
But divisions emerged over the creation of a worldwide tax on banks, aimed at clawing back the cost of bailing out financial institutions.
The IMF had initially drawn up a proposal for two taxes -- one to reimburse governments for the cost of bailing out banks hit by the crisis, and another to dissuade banks from taking excessive risks in the future.
It was met with a cool response in countries like Canada, Brazil and Japan, where the banking sector survived the global financial meltdown largely in tact.
"The crisis didn't start in our country's financial systems," said Brazilian finance minister Guido Mantega.
Mr Strauss-Kahn termed opposition to the measures as "a bit shortsighted," and said the IMF would prepare a report on the policy for a meeting of G20 leaders in Toronto this June.
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