G20

G20 leaders pledge one trillion dollars to curb financial crisis as summit closes

Article published on the 2009-04-02 Latest update 2009-04-03 12:24 TU

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown speaks at a news conference after the G20 summit in London on 2 April 2009.
(Photo: Reuters)

World leaders walked away from London's G20 summit declaring themselves optmistic that what they accomplished over the past week would help tackle the global financial crisis. The G20 pledged one trillion dollars (743 billion euros) to curb the crisis.

"A new world order is emerging, and with it we are entering into a new era of international co-operation," said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the end of the summit.

US President Barack Obama characterised the summit as a "turning point in our pursuit of global economic recovery".

Even French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who threatened to walk out of the summit earlier in the week, said the results were "more than we could have hoped for".

Stockmarkets in the US and Britain agreed. The Dow Jones rose 3.45 per cent and London's FTSE 100 went up 4.28 per cent.

Some of the highlights from the summit are:

- Extra 750 billion dollars (557 billion euros) for the International Monetary Fund;
  
- G20 nations expect to have spent five trillion dollars battling the economic crisis by the end of 2010;
  
- Extra 250 billion dollars (186 billion euros) for trade finance;
  
- Agreement to name and shame blacklisted tax havens;
  
- New rules on pay and bonuses for corporate chiefs;
  
- IMF will sell billions of dollars of gold reserves to help poor countries;
  
- Agreement to 'act urgently' to conclude WTO's Doha round;
  
- G20 leaders will meet again later this year.

Independently, Obama also pledged that the US will double international food aid.