IMF scales back cost of crisis to $2.3 trillion

WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund put the cost to financial institutions of the global economic crisis at $2.3 trillion on Tuesday, scaling back from an estimate of $2.8 trillion made six months ago.

"Our estimates of bank writedowns since the start of the crisis through 2010 have been reduced to $2.3 trillion from $2.8 trillion in the October 2009 Global Financial Stability Report," the IMF said.

The fund estimated that banks have already written off $1.5 trillion of the 2.3 trillion.