SAO PAULO, March 27 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, dismissing talk of a rift between him and Bank of England Governor Mervyn King over fiscal stimulus, said that Britain must not rule out taking action needed to boost growth.
Brown hopes to persuade other big developed and developing economies at a G20 summit in London on April 2 to agree on ambitious spending to lift the world economy out of recession.
But King warned Britain's government on Tuesday that its soaring budget deficit meant it would have to be cautious about any new fiscal stimulus package.
In a round of interviews with British broadcasters during a visit to Brazil, Brown was at pains to play down any disagreement with King over the advisability of a further injection of cash to boost the recession-hit economy.
"I think what Mervyn King was saying is what I've always said: That you've got to be cautious about everything you do," Brown said.
"Mervyn King actually said he'd be prepared to support targeted actions and I think that's a fair point."
"We must not rule out the action that's necessary for jobs and growth," he said.
Quoting King as saying that targeted actions may be necessary, Brown said: "That could include action on mortgages, or climate change and low-carbon recovery, or public works and investment," he said.
Brown has embarked on a tour of Europe, the United States and Latin America to drum up support for the G20 summit, which will seek ways to boost the world economy and to ensure that mistakes that led to the banking crisis are not repeated.
During the trip, Brown has emphasised that fiscal stimulus is only one of the measures Britain has taken to lift the economy, the others being interest rates cuts and "quantitative easing" or buying of assets by the central bank.
Some newspapers have interpreted this to mean Brown is backing away from a big new fiscal stimulus in the April budget. (Reporting by Adrian Croft; Editing by Jan Dahinten)