Surge in third world aid ruled out by world fund

The United States and its major allies have blunted a drive by the third world for a vast expansion in aid from the International Monetary Fund. US Treasury Secretary Donald Regan said the Reagan administration was firm in its view that only the poorest of poor countries were in such a plight that they urgently needed substantially more aid.

The hard-line US policy prevailed at a weekend meeting of an IMF policy-shaping group. Spurning demands from the third world for the pool of IMF loan funds to be expanded by over $13.8 billion a year, the committee proposed only a $4 billion increase.