Brown calls for increased IMF funds

Prime Minister Gordon Brown today called for the International Monetary Fund to have at least $500 billion (340 billion pounds) of resources to help countries cope with the financial crisis.

In a speech to the European Parliament, Brown said he believed the common principles behind the US, British and wider European plans for cleaning up banks' balance sheets would help rebuild confidence and restore lending to the wider economy.

He called for a new, reformed International Monetary Fund which he said must have at least $500 billion of resources, and promised Eastern European members of the EU "we will not walk away" in their time of need.