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Communiqué 

Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, United Kingdom, 14 March 2009 

We, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, met today to prepare for the Leaders’ 

London Summit. We agreed further action to restore global growth and support lending, and reforms to 

strengthen the global financial system. 

Restoring Global Growth 

1. We have taken decisive, coordinated and comprehensive action to boost demand and jobs, and 

are prepared to take whatever action is necessary until growth is restored. We commit to fight all 

forms of protectionism and maintain open trade and investment. 

2. Our key priority now is to restore lending by tackling, where needed, problems in the financial 

system head on, through continued liquidity support, bank recapitalisation and dealing with 

impaired assets, through a common framework (attached). We reaffirm our commitment to take 

all necessary actions to ensure the soundness of systemically important institutions. 

3. Fiscal expansion is providing vital support for growth and jobs. Acting together strengthens the 

impact and the exceptional policy actions announced so far must be implemented without delay. 

We are committed to deliver the scale of sustained effort necessary to restore growth, and call on 

the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to assess the actions taken and the actions required. We 

will ensure the restoration of growth and long-run fiscal sustainability. 

4. Interest rates have been cut aggressively in most countries, and G20 central banks will maintain 

expansionary policies as long as needed, using the full range of monetary policy instruments, 

including unconventional policy instruments, consistent with price stability. 

5. We are committed to helping emerging and developing economies to cope with the reversal in 

international capital flows. We recognise the urgent need to pursue all options for mobilising 

International Financial Institution (IFI) resources and liquidity to finance countercyclical spending, 

bank recapitalisation, infrastructure, trade finance, rollover risk and social support. We agreed on 

the urgent need to increase IMF resources very substantially. This could include further bilateral 

support, a significantly expanded and increased New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB), and an 

accelerated quota review. We should also ensure that all Multilateral Development Banks have 

the capital they need, beginning with a substantial capital increase for the Asian Development 

Bank, and put it to best use to help the world’s poorest. We welcomed the progress by the IMF 

and World Bank in introducing new and enhanced instruments, including the development of a 

new high-access, quick-disbursing precautionary facility. 

Strengthening the Financial System 

6. To further strengthen the global financial system we have completed the immediate steps in the 

Washington Action Plan and we welcome the Financial Stability Forum’s (FSF) expansion to all 

G20 members. We remain focused on the medium term actions, and make recommendations to 

the London Summit to ensure: 

• all systemically important financial institutions, markets and instruments are subject to an 

appropriate degree of regulation and oversight, and that hedge funds or their managers are 

registered and disclose appropriate information to assess the risks they pose; 

• stronger regulation is reinforced by strengthened macro-prudential oversight to prevent the 

build-up of systemic risk; 

• financial regulations dampen rather than amplify economic cycles, including by building buffers 

of resources during the good times and measures to constrain leverage; but it is vital that 

capital requirements remain unchanged until recovery is assured; and, 

• strengthened international cooperation to prevent and resolve crises, including through 

supervisory colleges, institutional reinforcement of the FSF, and the launch of an IMF/FSF Early 

Warning Exercise. 
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7. We have also agreed to: regulatory oversight, including registration, of all Credit Rating Agencies 

whose ratings are used for regulatory purposes, and compliance with the International 

Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) code; full transparency of exposures to offbalance sheet vehicles; the need for improvements in accounting standards, including for 

provisioning and valuation uncertainty; greater standardisation and resilience of credit derivatives 

markets; the FSF’s sound practice principles for compensation; and the relevant international 

bodies identify non-cooperative jurisdictions and to develop a tool box of effective counter 

measures. 

8. To strengthen the effectiveness and legitimacy of the IFIs we must enhance their governance and 

ensure they fully reflect changes in the world economy. Emerging and developing economies, 

including the poorest, should have greater voice and representation and the next review of IMF 

quotas should be concluded by January 2011. The package of quota and voice measures 

decided in April 2008 should be swiftly implemented. World Bank reforms should be completed by 

the Spring Meetings 2010. The heads of the IFIs should be appointed through open, merit based 

selection processes.