AQUILA, July 9 (RIA Novosti) - Russia could sign an agreement with the International Monetary Fund on acquiring IMF bonds worth $10 billion in August-September, a Finance Ministry official said on Thursday.

Andrei Bokarev, deputy director of the ministry's department for international financial relations, said the IMF approved last week the process for issuing the bonds.

Russia earlier announced its plans to spend $10 billion from its international reserves to buy IMF bonds to support countries hit hardest by the global economic crisis.

The G20 summit of rich and emerging economies in London in early April made a decision to increase the funds available to international financial institutions, saying a total of $1.1 trillion was needed for these purposes, including $500 billion for the IMF.

"Some EU countries and other economies have expressed their support for the enlargement of the IMF's financial resources. In turn, the IMF has offered a number of financial instruments that would be advantageous and suitable for countries that would be prepared for the time being to provide financial resources in the form of loans or borrowings to the IMF, to support needy countries," Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said in May.

The finance minister said that Russia had opted for IMF bonds after consultations with financial institutions, adding that these financial instruments were as reliable as gold and foreign currency reserves.