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US urging other nations to rescue own firms

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-21 14:26

WASHINGTON -- Senior Bush administration officials have pressed their counterparts in Japan, Germany, Britain and other nations to establish rescue plans for their own troubled financial firms, The Washington Post reported on Saturday.

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The Bush administration has asked the US Congress for authority to spend up to $700 billion to bail out financial institutions struggling with bad mortgage-based assets.

Administration officials are suggesting that other governments establish similar programs, in what would be an unprecedented bailout of the global financial system, the newspaper said on its website.

The Treasury Department considered letting foreign firms active in the United States participate in the bailout program, but decided instead to push other countries to rescue their own companies, the Post said.

An administration official confirmed to Reuters that the administration has been in contact with other nations to urge them to do whatever is necessary to ensure stability in their own markets.

An official at the Bank of England, who spoke to the Post on condition of anonymity, said the bank had been in constant contact with its U.S. counterparts to try to win a "global response to a global problem." The European Central Bank declined comment, the Post said.