Brown's Gulf trip for extra IMF funds splits opinion

BROWN TOUR: British PM Gordon Brown during a visit to Abu Dhabi. (Getty Images)

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's visit to the Gulf in search for extra money for an International Monetary Fund bailout fund has split opinion among Arabian Business readers.

Brown said on Wednesday that he believed Gulf states would announce extra money for the emergency fund at this month's G20 summit in Washington.

His comments came at the end of a tour of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE trying to persuade the oil rich region to top up the IMF's $250 billion bailout pot.

The British premier said hundreds of billions of extra dollars were needed to stop financial "contagion" spreading, adding the IMF was already bailing out Iceland, Ukraine and Hungary.

But 17 percent of people who took part in our online poll believed Brown should have been forced to leave the region empty-handed.

Another 33 percent believed the current economic turmoil around the world was caused by the likes of the US and UK and they should be the ones to sort it out rather than seek help from Gulf nations.

But another 19 percent of respondents thought entirely the opposite and said it was only right that the countries with most money in reserve should help others in time of global financial crisis.

Brown, who was in Dubai on Wednesday, said: "There's been a positive response but it's not my job to announce funds, it's a matter for the IMF when they talk to the individual countries."

And a further 31 percent of respondents agreed that the region's leaders should contribute more funds to the IMF pot on the proviso that they get more political power in the future.

The G20, which includes both Britain and Saudi Arabia, is meeting in Washington on November 15 for crunch talks on the crisis and will also discuss reforming international institutions like the IMF.

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