G20 summit: US ‘encouraged’ by eurozone plans

US President Barack Obama has said he is encouraged by European leaders’ plans to tackle the eurozone crisis, as the G20 summit in Mexico ends.

In a final communique, world leaders said they would take “all necessary measures” to protect the euro area.

Leaders said they welcomed Spain’s plans to recapitalise its banks, according to the communique.

The talks were being held as Greece seeks to form a coalition government and Spain’s borrowing costs soared.

Speaking to reporters at the end of the summit, President Obama said that European leaders recognised that “bold and decisive” action was needed to address Europe’s debt crisis.

“Euro Area members of the G20 will take all necessary measures to safeguard the integrity and stability of the area”

“What I have heard from European leaders during these discussions, they understand the stakes, they understand why it’s important for them to take bold and decisive action, and I am confident they can meet those tests,” he said.

President Obama said that while there was no “silver bullet” to solve Europe’s crisis, “each step points to the fact that Europe is moving towards further integration rather than break-up”.

“I am confident that over the next several weeks, Europe will paint a picture of where we need to go,” he added.

‘Concrete steps’

As the summit came to a close the European leaders pledged to maintain stability in the eurozone and to work with the next Greek government towards reform and sustainability.

“Euro area members of the G20 will take all necessary measures to safeguard the integrity and stability of the area, improve the functioning of financial markets and break the feedback loop between sovereigns and banks,” the joint statement said.

“We support the intention to consider concrete steps towards a more integrated financial architecture,” it continued.

“The European Union members of the G20 are determined to move forward expeditiously on measures to support growth”.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed that Greece must hold up its end of the deal.

“It’s obvious that the reforms that were agreed in the past are the right steps and that they therefore must be implemented,” Mrs Merkel told reporters.

She added that world leaders had “very balanced” talks on growth.

“We need the right mix of budget consolidation… and at the same time efforts for growth.”

In the closing discussions of the summit, leaders also agreed not to introduce new protectionist measures until 2014.

But Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the imposition of trade barriers could be a vital tool in protecting Russian jobs.

Meanwhile, the “Brics” economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) also pledged to increase their contributions to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – which has been seeking to boost its finances to prevent any future financial crisis.

The five Brics nations all offered to contribute $10bn (£6.4bn) to the IMF each in exchange for voting reforms that would give them greater influence in the organisation.

China also pledged $43bn (£27bn) to the IMF’s crisis intervention fund, which has almost doubled to $456bn (£366bn).

The BBC’s diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall, at the Los Cabos summit, says the offer of billions of dollars from the developing economies is perhaps the most tangible result of the two-day-long talks.

The funds, which would be released by the IMF if the eurozone crisis spreads, are a sign of support but also indicate how fragile many fear the economic situation in Europe to be, our correspondent adds.

G20: How their economies are faring
Country	Growth (% GDP change, 2010-11)	Unemployment (% 2011)	External debt (% GDP, end of 2011)
Source: Principal Global Indicators
Argentina	8.9	7.5	7.6
Australia	2.2	5.1	86.6
Brazil	2.7	6	17.2
Canada	2.4	7.5	70.2
China – mainland	n/a	4.1	n/a
European Union*	1.5	10.1**	120.0
France	1.7	9.3	191.2
Germany	3	6.5	159.4
India	6.9	n/a	17.2***
Indonesia	6.5	6.6	26.5
Italy	0.4	8.4	115.1
Japan	-0.7	4.6	52
Mexico	3.9	5.2	26.1
Russia	4.3	6.6	27.7
Saudi Arabia	6.8	n/a	n/a
South Africa	3.3	24.9	29.4
South Korea	3.6	3.4	34.9
Turkey	8.5	9.8	42.7
UK	0.9	8.1	421.9
US	1.7

Related articles

• G20 puts pressure on Angela Merkel (nzherald.co.nz)
• G20 Summit: World Leaders Call for Action in Eurozone Crisis (newsy.com)