Germany may pay full ESM contribution in 2012: FM

German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble yesterday said the country may pay its full contribution to the eurozone's permanent rescue fund in 2012.

"It is clear that the sooner and the more paid-up capital the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) has, the more it gains trust on the financial markets," Schaeuble told regional German paper Rheinische Post Duesseldorf.

In a recent interview to General-Anzeiger newspaper, Schaeuble had said that the European Stability Mechanism - a permanent fund which had been originally planned to launch in 2013 - should be financed as soon as possible.

The ESM, which will replace the current European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) bailout fund, was established in July to provide financial assistance to indebted eurozone countries.

In the Brussels summit held on 8-9th December, European leaders agreed to speed up the launch of the ESM by a year to mid-2012 in order to deal with the debt crisis.

The ESM will have a lending capacity of 500 billion euros ($651.9bn). Its capital stock of 700 billion euros ($910.6bn) will ascertain effective lending up to this amount. The fund consists of 80 billion euros ($104.1bn) paid-in capital from EU countries and 620 billion euros ($806.5bn) in callable shares.