UK facing £17.5bn bill to help plug IMF hole

The UK may have to fork out £17.5bn to plug a funding shortfall at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after the organisation warned yesterday it needed additional funds to tackle the eurozone crisis.

The IMF said it would need to ask member states, including the UK, for another $600bn (£390bn) to fulfil its mandate of stabilising the global economy.

A spokesman said the Fund's resources needed to more than double from $400bn to $1trn to insulate the world against an intensification of the euro's woes.

Britain is committed to paying around 4.5% of the total fund, meaning it may need to shell out an extra $27bn (£17.5bn).

However, Prime Minister David Cameron (pictured) - along with his counterparts in the US - are said to be resisting the cash call from the IMF.

According to the FT, in a statement yesterday he said: "We are founder members and great supporters of the IMF. It's a key international institution.

"We set out our conditions at the Cannes G20 summit about expansion of the IMF. We believe the IMF must always lend to countries, not to currencies. We would only act if that was with others, not just as part of a eurozone measure. But above all, we want to see the eurozone standing behind its own currency."

George Osborne, the Chancellor, has previously warned Britain's contribution to IMF coffers could have to increase.

The US Treasury is understood to be unwilling to contribute. It said in a statement yesterday: "The IMF cannot substitute for a robust euro area firewall.

"We have told our international partners that we have no intention to seek additional resources for the IMF."