British leader seeks bailout aid in Gulf

DOHA, Qatar – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Sunday he believed that oil-rich Gulf states would be willing to help bail out countries stricken by the global credit crisis.

The British leader has said that he wants “hundreds of billions” of extra dollars pledged to the International Monetary Fund, noting that the Middle East has significant foreign exchange reserves fueled by previous surges in the price of oil.

“The Saudis will, I think, contribute like other countries so we can have a bigger fund worldwide,” he said after meeting with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah late Saturday in Riyadh.

The IMF has dipped into its $250 billion reserves to provide emergency loans to Iceland, Hungary and Ukraine totaling $30 billion. Pakistan has said it may call on the international body for another $5 billion.

The Saudis did not comment publicly on their talks with Brown, but Qatari Prime Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani said his country was keen to work with other nations, noting that Qatar also has been affected by the financial turmoil.

“We are sharing the same world and we are sharing the same principles … and I think we should look how we can help this economic crisis,” he said after meeting with Brown. “Qatar is not excluded.”

Analysts have argued that Gulf states will feel little impetus to bolster the IMF, given its domination by the United States and the G7 industrialized nations.

“They need to be involved in serious decision-making regarding the financial and economic health of the global market. It is no longer possible to leave them out,” said Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a professor of political science at Emirates University in Al Ain. “The tendency has been a dismissive one so far, and that hasn’t been wise.”