Bern/Washington  - The Swiss government Wednesday pledged 10 billion dollars to the International Monetary Fund Wednesday to boost its lending capacity to countries under threat from the global recession.

The Swiss Federal Council, the government's executive branch, announced the support, and the final decision to dole out the money lays with parliament.

The world's leading 20 economies, at a London summit last week, called for states to raise the funds available to the IMF to 750 billion dollars, an increase of 500 billion dollars, so it could lend to states hit particularly hard by the financial crisis.

"We are very pleased that Switzerland is joining other members, including Japan, the European Union, Norway, and Canada in support of the fund's efforts to prevent and resolve economic difficulties in other member countries," IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in a statement.

Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolph Merz told a newspaper over the weekend that Switzerland, particularly as an exporting nation, had an interest in maintaining the financial stability of other countries.

Switzerland has been a member of the IMF since early last decade but has yet to make a loan.

The Council also said Switzerland would have two seats on the new Financial Stability Board, which replaced the Financial Stability Forum as part of the new architecture designed during the Group of 20 summit in an effort to boost global oversight.

Switzerland is not a member of the G20 bloc or the European Union, which is part of the international forum. (dpa)