The head of the International Monetary Fund called on European governments to boost the size of their rescue fund and consider financial risk-sharing steps like common eurozone bonds as a way out of their sovereign debt crisis.
In a speech at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the world economy faced a "defining moment" that required quick, collective action.
To help meet the challenge, she urged leading powers to back an increase in resources for the Washington-based lender to help fill a global financing hole that the IMF believes could reach $1 trillion over the coming years.
The IMF has helped fund a series of eurozone bailouts over the past two years, but with big European countries like Italy now under threat, it wants to boost its lending capacity, currently estimated at around $380bn.
Members of the single currency bloc have agreed to inject close to $200bn, but countries like the United States, Canada, China and Japan have been cool on channelling more funds to the IMF.
Many are keen for Europe to take more decisive steps to resolve its debt crisis first.
Ms Lagarde said the IMF was seeking to increase its lending resources by up to $500bn, including the funds already pledged by Europe.
The Fund estimates that up to $1 trillion in global financing could be needed over the coming years.
She praised decisions by eurozone governments to enforce stricter fiscal discipline and a move by the European Central Bank to provide long-term liquidity to banks, but said these steps formed mere "pieces" of a comprehensive crisis solution.
Ms Lagarde warned specifically about the risks that higher funding costs for Italy and Spain lead to a solvency crisis, saying this would have disastrous consequences for systemic stability.
"Adding substantial real resources to what is currently available by folding the EFSF into the ESM, increasing the size of the ESM, and identifying a clear and credible timetable for making it operational would help greatly," Ms Lagarde said, referring to the eurozone's current and future rescue funds.
She urged European leaders to complement the "fiscal compact" they agreed last month with some form of financial risk-sharing, mentioning eurozone bonds or bills, or a debt redemption fund as possible options.
