Leaders of the world’s largest economies have agreed a $1.1 trillion package of measures to restore growth and jobs and rebuild confidence and trust in the financial system. 'This is the day that the world came together, to fight back against the global recession. Not with words but a plan for global recovery and for reform and with a clear timetable,' British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said at the end of the London Summit of G20 countries on 2 April.

'Today we have reached a new consensus, that we take global action together to deal with problems we face, that we will do what is necessary to restore growth in jobs, that we will take essential action to rebuild confidence and trust in our financial system.'

The Prime Minister highlighted that fiscal stimulus measures that countries has already announced would amount to some five trillion dollars by the end of next year, and he announced that at the London summit countries had agreed to inject fresh money into the economy that would support this 'unprecedented fiscal expansion'. This $1.1 trillion worth of additional measures included:

• an additional $500bn for the IMF $250bn in International Monetary Fund Special Drawing Rights available to all IMF members; and
• a trade finance package worth $250bn over two years to support global trade flows
• At least $100bn of additional lending by the Multilateral Development Banks

He set out six pledges that that the 21 nations and the European Commission had agreed at the Summit in London’s ExCeL Centre. These were to:
restore confidence, growth, and jobs; repair the financial system to restore lending;  strengthen financial regulation to rebuild trust; fund and reform our international financial institutions to overcome this crisis and prevent future ones; promote global trade and investment and reject protectionism, to underpin prosperity; and build an inclusive, green, and sustainable recovery.

Principles to reform the global banking system included: bringing the shadow banking system, including hedge funds, within the global regulatory net; new international accounting standards; regulation of credit rating agencies; and an end to tax havens that do not transfer information on request.

'There are no quick fixes, but with the six pledges that we make today we can shorten the recession and we can save jobs,' he told journalists after the Summit ended.

He said the reform of the financial system would include a common global approach to how we deal with impaired or toxic assets. 'We will clean up the banks, so that they increase lending to families and businesses, and to enable this we've agreed for the first time,' he said.

He said that leaders would meet later in the year to review the implementation of today’s measures and take further action if needed. The site of the next meeting will be announced in the next few days.