Finance ministers and senior officials from the G7 major economies plus Russia extended an assistance partnership set up with Egypt and Tunisia at a May summit in Deauville, northern France.

"The institutions pledged to increase their financial network to $38 billion compared with the $20 billion pledged at Deauville," French finance minister Francois Baroin told a news conference. "This is not just words, an important step was taken this morning."

The World Bank is putting up $10.7 billion, the African Development Bank $7.6 billion, the Islamic Development Bank $5.0 billion with the rest coming from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other lenders.

Copyright Reuters, 2011