Prolonged uncertainty in Europe will hurt others: PM

As Eurozone crisis threatened to engulf global economy, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday warned that "prolonged" uncertainty and instability in Europe will hurt other countries too and suggested that the IMF can help rescue the situation.

Observing that everyone has a stake in the orderly functioning and prosperity of Europe, including the Eurozone countries, Singh told the G-20 Summit, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) must keep the situation under "close watch" as part of regional surveillance and should also be willing to help in an appropriate manner if asked to do so.

"Prolonged uncertainty and instability in the Eurozone countries can hurt us all. In an increasingly integrated world, all of us have a stake in the orderly functioning and prosperity of Europe," he said in his intervention at the Summit of the world's 20 leading economies at this French Riveria resort.

The sixth Summit in three years is meant to focus on reforms of the global monetary system and steps to rein in speculative capital flows, but has been overshadowed by the fresh Greek crisis amid talk of the possibility of a Greek pullout from the 12-year-old common currency Euro that could have contagion effect.