The foreign office has received an "urgent" cash injection of £90m as it waits for funds to to be approved by Parliament.

Foreign secretary David Miliband said the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has asked for £134m in the 2009-10 spring supplementary estimate but, in the meantime, it has been lent £90m from the Treasury's contingency fund for "urgent expenditure".

There have been rows over the department's funding after a special fund designed to help with currency fluctuations was scrapped in 2007, with the Conservatives accusing the government of undermining Britain's global interests.

Miliband said the Treasury cash would allow the department to "cover ongoing operational costs such as the payment of suppliers" until Parliament approves the original request.

A foreign office spokeswoman insisted that the transfer of funds from the Treasury was routine. "It is normal for government departments to ask for a cash advance if funds from Parliament are delayed," she said.