LONDON (Bloomberg) — Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that sovereign wealth funds should be tapped to help fuel growth in the UK and other countries that may be facing recession.

"My view of sovereign wealth funds is that they want to operate commercially," Brown said today in London. "They've been put into business, not to gain political power."

Sovereign wealth funds, which invest money controlled by national governments, have taken stakes in banks including Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley in the past year. China Development Bank has invested in Barclays Plc, Britain's third-biggest bank.

"They are a big means by which we can secure investment in some of the vital things we want to do for future," Brown said. "Oil revenues been very high and should be recycled in part into non-oil energy sources. That gives the oil countries a hedge against the price of oil."

Brown estimated that sovereign wealth funds may represent an investment pool of $12 trillion.