Financial leaders on Saturday urged the International Monetary Fund to sharpen its oversight of the global economy, which is burdened by surging food prices and a credit crisis that shows no end in sight.

As rich countries struggled to get a handle on financial turmoil that has rocked markets for nine months and worried the U.S. dollar may have fallen too far, emerging and developing nations wondered how much they would be spared from a crisis that may have already pushed the U.S. economy into recession.

Countries also fretted over increasing prices for food and other commodities, and related shortages of key staples that have fueled protests in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

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They called on the IMF and World Bank to stand ready with emergency funding to help the poorer nations of the world in case financial market woes spread to their economies and the food crisis worsened.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson warned of "more bumps in the road."

"It took time to build up recent excesses and it will take time to work through the consequences," he told the IMF's policy-setting International Monetary and Financial Committee.

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