IMF needs hundreds of billions of dollars more: British PM

RIYADH: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) needs "hundreds of billions of dollars" so it can assist countries hit by the world financial chaos.

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.

In the wake of British high street bank Barclays announcing it would raise billions of dollars from investors in Abu Dhabi and Qatar, Brown also stressed that Britain welcomed investment from Gulf sovereign wealth funds "as long as they play by our rules and operate in a commercial manner."

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.

"If we are to stop the spread of the financial crisis, we need a better global insurance policy to help distressed economies," he said.

"That is why I have called for more resources available for the IMF -- hundreds of billions (of) dollars on top of the 250 billion they already have available -- to lend to those countries at risk of financial collapse.

"The oil producing countries, who have generated over one trillion dollars from higher oil prices in recent years, are in a position to contribute."

The trip comes after British high street lender Barclays said Friday it would raise $11.7 billion mostly from oil rich investors in Abu Dhabi and Qatar.

This could see Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, owner of premiership football club Manchester City, owning up to 16.3 percent of Barclays.