clipped from: afp.google.com RIYADH (AFP) — Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) needs "hundreds of billions of dollars" to help countries at risk of collapsing amid the world financial crisis.
Brown, who is in Saudi Arabia, told reporters Saturday during a four-day tour of Gulf states that countries which had benefited from recent high oil prices could contribute to the plan.
Brown, whose struggling premiership has been boosted by his leadership in the financial panic, wants the IMF's 250 billion dollar bailout fund for affected countries to be extended to prevent "contagion" elsewhere.
He has not previously indicated the amount of cash by which he believes the IMF, which is set to bail out Hungary, Ukraine and Iceland, needs to boost its coffers.
"As long as they play by our rules and operate in a commercial manner, we welcome investment from sovereign wealth funds in the UK," he said.