Brown believes Saudis will boost IMF bailout fund

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Sunday he believes Saudi Arabia will give more money to expand the IMF's capacity to bail out nations hit by worldwide economic chaos.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has 250 billion pounds available to help countries struggling to stay afloat but Brown wants to increase this by hundreds of billions of dollars.

On a four-day tour of oil-rich Gulf states to drum up support for the plan, he stopped off first in Riyadh and then in Doha, where he will meet Qatari Prime Minister Hamad Bin Jassim and Emir Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani.

Brown is also expected in Abu Dhabi on Monday for a two-day visit, according to the Emirati official news agency WAM.

In Riyadh, Brown told reporters that he thought that both the Saudis and other Gulf states would be willing to help.

"The Saudis will I think contribute like other countries so we can have a bigger fund worldwide," Brown said.

"I think people want to invest both in helping the world get through this very difficult period of time but also I think people want to work with us so we are less dependent on oil and have more stability in oil prices."

He was speaking after several hours of talks with Saudi King Abdullah -- who will attend a crunch G20 summit in Washington on November 15 which will consider the IMF's role -- at the royal palace late on Saturday.

Speaking at a breakfast for British and Saudi business leaders on Sunday, Brown said it is in Gulf states' interests to help other nations out to prevent economic "contagion" spreading.

Lord Peter Mandelson, Britain's business secretary, told reporters that securing agreement on any deal is "a process not an event". It is not expected that a deal will be agreed in the next few days.

As he seeks to persuade Gulf states to buy into the plan, Brown also backed a bigger role for them in international bodies like the IMF, which is set to rescue Hungary, Ukraine and Iceland.

Brown said he supports "reforming the international institutions... to give countries like your own a bigger place in the order."

Saudi Arabia has "a crucial role to play" at next month's G20 summit, where its voice "must be heard," Brown added on day two of the tour.

The British premier, who clashed with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) over their emergency cut in production last month, also called for more stable oil prices to help steady the world economy.

Saudi Arabia is by far OPEC's biggest oil producer.

The Gulf states have been hit by oil prices dropping below 60 dollars a barrel in recent days from record highs of nearly 150 dollars in July, amid fears of falling demand because of the slowdown.

Qatar's energy minister Abdulla bin Hamad al-Attiyah stridently rebuffed criticism by Britain and others over the OPEC cut last week, saying there was a lot of oil which no-one was buying because of the economic conditions.

Stock markets in the region have also plunged -- the total value of shares listed on Gulf stock markets fell by 250 billion dollars in October.

Brown is travelling with ex EU trade commissioner Mandelson as well as Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and a delegation of 27 leading figures from British businesses including defence contractor BAE Systems and oil giant BP.

The delegation aims to drum up investment in British business, while Miliband is keen to promote links with Gulf states over green energy technology.

On his final engagement in Saudi Arabia, Brown met former detainees from the US's Guantanamo Bay detention centre at a deradicalisation centre on the outskirts of Riyadh.

He shook hands with Juma al-Dossary, 35, and Ganim al-Harbi, 34, who both spent six years in Guantanamo, and wished them well.

Despite its tiny size, Qatar -- which became independent from Britain in 1971 -- has the highest per capita income in the world, buoyed by revenues from oil and natural gas.

British high street bank Barclays said Friday it would raise 11.7 billion dollars mostly from investors in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.