Europe Ships Euro150 Billion to IMF as U.K. Shuns Extra Crisis Aid

Europe bolstered its anti-crisis arsenal, channeling 150 billion euros ($195 billion) to the International Monetary Fund as the European Central Bank widened its support for sagging bond markets.

Four countries not using the euro -- the Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland and Sweden -- pledged to follow suit, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said in an e-mailed statement after chairing a teleconference of European Union finance ministers today.

Britain refused to commit, in a sign of the difficulty of attracting outside cash to ease the euro area’s home-grown debt burdens. Britain will “define its contribution” in early 2012, according to the statement.

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