IMF drives up the credit loss bidding to $4 trillion

It seems like every so often, the "bidding" on the level of total global credit losses goes higher. Some economist somewhere re-runs his or her models and throws out a gigantic number -- which is then topped by yet another astronomical number published by someone else a few weeks or months later. Only this time, it's the International Monetary Fund that's doing the talking (or that will do so shortly, according to a report in the Times of London).

The Times says the IMF is set to jack up its estimate of losses from the credit crisis to $4 trillion globally, in a report due out April 21. That compares to the IMF's January estimate of $2.2 trillion. The kicker? Financial firms have only acknowledged $1.29 trillion in losses to date, implying that we are not even a third of the way through the loss-recognizing process. Sobering stuff to be sure, if the IMF figures eventually prove accurate.