G20 likely to double IMF crisis rescue funds: Britain

RIYADH: The G20 countries are likely to more than double the IMF's $250 billion resources for aiding crisis-struck members at their April 2 summit, Britain's envoy to the group said on Saturday.

Mark Malloch Brown said that his talks with members of the Group of 20 developed and developing nations showed a commitment to bring the IMF's available aid funds to "at least" $500 billion.

"Something of this magnitude and scale is very much in the cards," he said during a visit to Riyadh to meet with Saudi officials. He said $500 billion was "the minimum needed" to reassure markets that the world's leading economies were taking action to counter the global crisis.

"The G20 as a whole accept the need to get something like this," he said, adding though that individual country commitments had not yet been established.

He noted rescue packages that the IMF has already extended to Eastern European countries such as Ukraine, saying, "We think there will be demands from every part of the world for these programmes."

"That's why we need to quickly resource the IMF." Brown said he did not see economic recovery coming before 2010, and that the G20 summit in London needs to send a signal to the world that the group's members have a credible strategy to face the crisis.