Ireland can manage, says IMF chief

INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said yesterday that Ireland can manage its fiscal affairs well, and the Fund has had no request for aid.

"I have not been in contact with Ireland," he told reporters on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Yokohama, Japan. "So far I have not had a request, and I think Ireland can manage well…"

He said the IMF would be willing to help Ireland if needed in the future, but "until now it's business as usual".

Eurozone sources said on Friday that Ireland was in talks about tapping emergency funds from the European Financial Stability Facility, but Ireland said it had not applied for any EU aid. Strauss-Kahn said he, too, was unaware of talks about an EU bailout for Ireland.

Irish borrowing costs shot to record highs last week because of concern about the country's ability to reduce a public debt burden swollen by bank bailouts, and worries that private bond holders could be forced to shoulder part of the costs of any bailout.

Government officials in Dublin have denied repeatedly that they plan to tap EU funds, and an Irish finance ministry spokesman said that there were "no talks on an application for emergency funding from the European Union".