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G-20 agrees on 1.1 trillion USD and tougher rules to tackle global crisis

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Leaders of the world's largest economies have reached an agreement to tackle the global financial crisis with measures worth 1.1 trillion US dollars.

To help countries with troubled economies, the resources available to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be tripled to 750 billion. There will also be sanctions against secretive tax havens and tougher global financial regulation.

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

President Barack Obama said the summit could mark a “turning point” in the pursuit of economic recovery and made progress in reforming a “failed regulatory system”.

“By any measure the London summit was historic. It was historic because of the size and the scope of the challenges that we face and because of the timeliness and the magnitude of our response,” he said.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said there was “no quick fix” for the world economy but there was a commitment to do whatever was necessary.

“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.

The deal was announced shortly before the European stock markets closed and gave leading indexes a significant boost. London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares ended 4.3% higher. In Paris, the Cac 40 jumped 5.4% and in Frankfurt, the Dax rose 6%.

On behalf of the G20, Mr 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 100 billion extra aid.
• G20 countries are already implementing the biggest economic stimulus “the world has ever seen” - an injection of 5 trillion by the end of next year.

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 500 billion. An overdraft facility will also be increased to 250 billion (in the IMF currency, so-called Special Drawing Rights) that all members can call upon.

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.

President Obama was said to have played a key role in brokering the agreement, resolving differences between France and China on tax havens. Another G20 summit will be held later this year to check on progress.

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.

The US and UK emphasised the need for public spending to ease the crisis while France and Germany were keen for tougher financial regulation. Mr Sarkozy had threatened to walk out of the meeting if it did not yield concrete results. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also praised the outcome.

She said the new measures would give the world a “clearer financial market architecture” and the agreement was “a very, very good, almost historic compromise”. Her finance minister, Peer Steinbrueck, said he was pleased that the G20 statement did not oblige states to launch further economic stimulus packages.

The G20 countries have pledged 100 billion USD in aid for developing countries, more than expected. The money will be dispensed through multilateral lenders such as the Asian Development Bank.

The measure that could make the most difference in the short term for the poorest countries is the availability of 250 billion of trade credit, says BBC international development correspondent David Loyn. It will enable goods currently rotting on the quayside in Africa to move again, he says.

BBC business editor Robert Peston said the tougher financial regulation announced by the G20 was a significant step. He said it sounded the death knell for the freewheeling Anglo-American way of banking and conducting financial markets. However, he said the measures would not get the world out of recession overnight.