Finance ministers from both rich and developing countries are promising
they will not let a global fragile economic recovery collapse.
The
ministers from the Group of 20 nations, known as the G-20, concluded a
critical meeting in London Saturday, agreeing on the need to continue
spending money to stimulate economic growth - and the need to reform
world economic institutions - like the International Monetary Fund and
the World Bank - to better represent developing economies.
The
two-day meeting comes as G-20 heads of state prepare for a critical
summit in the eastern U.S. city of Pittsburgh later this month.
There
have been numerous indications that the world is pulling out of its
deepest recession since World War Two. But United States Treasury
Secretary Timothy Geithner says the world must still confront
"significant challenges."
Differences also remain over how to
reform a banking system that rewarded top bank executives with large
salary bonuses, even though many of their decisions help spark the
financial crisis.
Germany and France have been calling for hard
limits, or caps, on how much bank executives can be paid. But both the
U.S. and Britain have resisted that approach, instead favoring measures
that would connect compensation to how profitable banks are over a
period of time.
The U.S. is also pushing for a plan that would
require banks that take on more risky investments to put more cash into
reserve in case the investments fail.
The issue is expected to
come up again on September 17, when Sweden's prime minister has invited
European Union leaders to meet and discuss bank bonuses before the G-20
summit.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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