World leaders on Thursday agreed to “fight back” against the global recession with $1000bn in funding for the International Monetary Fund and for international trade finance, but did not commit themselves to a new round of fiscal stimulus.
Gordon Brown, the British prime minister and host of the G20 summit, said a total of $1,000bn could be made available to fight the international financial crisis, including $750bn in funding for the International Monetary Fund and $250bn for trade finance.
“”This is the day that the world came together, to fight back against the global recession,” he told a news conference at the end of the summit of leaders from leading advanced and emerging economies accounting for 85 per cent of global output. “We will do what is necessary to restore growth [and save jobs].”
The OECD will also publish a blacklist of countries considered tax havens because they do not co-operate with efforts to identify individuals and companies dodging taxes, officials said.
And Mr Brown said that there would be a “common global approach” for the first time to clean up banks’ balance sheets, although he did not give details.
But there was no agreement for a new global round of fiscal stimulus, upsetting hopes in the US and UK and Japan after Germany and France pressed for an emphasis on tougher regulation to prevent future crises.
