Ahaha these jokers:-Brown says IMF needs more cash

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Brown says IMF needs more cash
Gordon Brown has warned that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) might not have enough money to halt the spread of financial "contagion" through the world's economies.

Embarking on a diplomatic offensive to secure hundreds of billions of dollars in additional financial support for the IMF, the Prime Minister called for immediate action.

His intervention came after Hungary and Ukraine accepted IMF assistance to prop up their battered economies as the financial crisis has torn through Eastern Europe.

He said the 250 billion dollar fund currently available to the IMF to lend to financially stricken states "may not be enough".

"It is becoming increasingly clear to me that we cannot delay and that we now need substantial additional resources in addition to the 250 billion dollars the IMF already has available," he said.

Aides later refused to set a figure but said the required cash was likely to run into hundreds of billions.

The premier did not rule out a British contribution to the enhanced fund, but made clear he believed the bulk of any additional money should come from China and the oil rich states of the Gulf. "Yes, we will play our part, but the biggest part can be played by countries that have got the biggest surpluses," he said.

Mr Brown, who was in Paris holding talks with French president Nicolas Sarkozy, said he would be raising the issue during a four-day trip to the Gulf starting on Saturday. He is due to visit the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which have all seen multi-billion dollar boosts to their income from oil due to the recent price spike.

He is also planning to speak by phone with Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, whose country is sitting on a large capital reserve after a decade of expanding exports of consumer goods to the West.

"I believe it is possible in a very short period of time to create an international fund that is strong enough to help withstand the difficulties," Mr Brown said. "It is in every nation's interest and in the interests of hard-working families in our country and every country that financial contagion does not spread."
http://news.uk.msn.com/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=10474597

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Darling defends fiscal rules U-turn
Alistair Darling is to insist that a new approach to public finances is needed to combat the economic downturn.

With the Government planning to increase borrowing and spend its way out of an almost certain recession, the Chancellor will say that fiscal policy must support efforts to shore up the economy.

"Just as markets change, so should policy," he will tell the Cass Business School in his annual Mais lecture.

But he was warned by the Tories that any "spending splurge" would damage Britain's economic outlook still further and reduce the scope for interest rate cuts.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, shadow chancellor George Osborne said the scrapping of Gordon Brown's fiscal rules would destroy "the final remaining pillar" of his economic legacy.

Mr Darling will argue, however, that policy on taxation and expenditure should reflect the "exceptional" circumstances and that such shifts in thinking are necessary across the world.

"Today, governments all over the world are using approaches that had until recently been consigned to policymaking history, but it is natural that the conduct of policy should evolve.

"Three weeks ago, we worked with other countries to put in place a plan to stabilise the banking system. These countries are committed to working together to strengthen supervision in the global financial system.

"And today we need the same determination to support the wider economy. To ensure that fiscal policy supports monetary policy, here and across the world, in these exceptional circumstances."

Mr Osborne raised the prospect of a decade-long economic decline should the Government increase spending by borrowing more. He said that would be "exactly the wrong approach", adding: "The policies that got us into this mess cannot be the ones to get us out of it."
http://news.uk.msn.com/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=10481266

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