G20 leaders seal $1.1tn global deal

BBC World

Gordon Brown said banking secrecy was now over

Leaders of the world's largest economies have reached an agreement to tackle the global financial crisis with measures worth $1 trillion (£681bn).

To help countries with troubled economies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will get extra resources worth up to $750bn.

There will also be sanctions against secretive tax havens and tougher global financial regulation.

And the G20 has committed about $250bn to boost global trade.

On behalf of the G20, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced the following steps:

Bankers' pay and bonuses will be subject to stricter controls

A new Financial Stability Board will be set up to work with the IMF to ensure co-operation across borders and provide an early warning mechanism for the financial system

There will be greater regulation of hedge funds and credit ratings agencies

A common approach to cleaning up banks' toxic assets has been agreed

The world's poorest countries will receive extra aid.

IMF boost

The IMF has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the G20 summit.

The resources it has to help troubled economies will be increased to $500bn.

An overdraft facility will also be increased to $250bn (in the IMF's currency, so-called Special Drawing Rights) that the world's poorest countries can call on.

"This is the day that the world came together to fight back against the global recession, not with words, but with a plan for global recovery and for reform and with a clear timetable for its delivery," Mr Brown said.

NEW FUNDING PLEDGES

• $500bn for the IMF to lend to struggling economies
  
  
• $250bn to boost world trade
  
  
• $250bn for a new IMF "overdraft facility" countries can draw on
  
  
• $100bn that international development banks can lend to poorest countries
  
  
• $6bn increase in lending for the poorest countries.

Source: BBC

He said there was "no quick fix" for the world economy but there was a commitment to do whatever was necessary.

Mr Brown said the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development would publish a list of tax havens later on Thursday and actions would be taken against those that did not comply with international rules.

"We have agreed tough standards and sanctions for use against those who don't come into line in the future," he said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that the conclusions of the G20 summit were "more than we could have hoped for".

Earlier, there had been suggestions of rifts between France and Germany and the US and the UK.

Mr Sarkozy had threatened to walk out of the meeting if it did not yield concrete results.