Brown calls for more money for IMF
October 29, 2008 PARIS - Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain called yesterday for China and the Persian Gulf states to put up more money to help the International Monetary Fund deal with the fallout of the credit crisis. Brown's appeal grabbed the spotlight ahead of a meeting yesterday with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, who called the proposal interesting and vowed to work "hand in hand" with the British leader, just as they had on a coordinated rescue plan for European banks. Sarkozy said he also believed that the fund needed "additional means" to help ailing economies. "Our first priority at the moment is to stop the contagion to other countries, including in Eastern Europe where there are problems emerging," Brown said before the meeting with Sarkozy in Versailles, southwest of Paris. The talks were arranged to prepare the European Union's position ahead of a 20-nation summit meeting on Nov. 15 in Washington, which is intended to explore ways to reorder the global financial system. Brown's appeal to resource-rich emerging economies to help pay for bailout plans highlights how stretched the Group of 7 industrialized countries have become in dealing with the global economic rout. It also laid the groundwork for the type of grand bargain that might emerge at the November meeting: In return for a greater voice in an overhauled financial architecture, large developing countries will be asked to make a greater contribution. The British leader, whose bank recapitalization plan has become a blueprint for the European Union and the United States, said the IMF needed a fund "substantially" larger than the current pool of $250 billion earmarked for nations in difficulty. NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICEhttp://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/File-Based_Image_Resource/dingbat_story_end_icon.gif http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2008/10/29/brown_calls_for_more_money_for_imf/
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