---

ECOFIN

My right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Alistair Darling) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. The ECOFIN Council met informally on Thursday 18 December 2008 in Paris. The Financial Secretary to the Treasury represented the UK. Ministers discussed non-co-operative financial jurisdictions, the IMF's resources, and the setting up of an early warning system for financial risks at an international level. They also discussed taking forwards work at EU level in response to the action plan agreed by leaders at the Washington summit on 15 November. Ministers asked the Financial Stability Forum to identify jurisdictions believed to be acting non-co-operatively in the financial sector. This will link with the European Commission's presentation of an action plan at the beginning of 2009 in this area. They also committed to reviewing all options to enable the IMF to have adequate resources to continue playing a stabilising role in the financial system. In order to detect macroeconomic and financial risks within the global financial system, ECOFIN mandated its experts to identify means more effectively to evaluate the full extent of risks and strengthen collaboration between the IMF and the FSF. ECOFIN will return to these issues under the Czech presidency of the EU in 2009.