US President-elect Barack Obama has picked two experienced policymakers, Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers, to spearhead the fight against the global financial crisis – appointments which should bring some cheer to world markets. Obama, who will inherit the worst economic mess since the Great Depression when he takes over from President George W. Bush on Jan. 20, plans to nominate Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, as Treasury secretary. Geithner, 47, will lead United States' $700 billion bailout plan for the financial industry. Summers, 53, who was Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, will help shape policy as director of the White House National Economic Council, a transition official said. Both men command wide respect in financial markets. US stock prices, which were pummelled most of last week, rallied more than 6 percent on Friday after word leaked out that Geithner appeared set to take the helm at Treasury. On Saturday, Obama laid out plans for a two-year economic stimulus package and warned of huge job losses and falling prices if swift action is not taken. Leaders from Asia and the Americas, meeting in Lima, Peru, over the weekend, promised to push for a so-far elusive global free trade deal which they said would help keep the world from sliding into a deep recession. Bush, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Japanese Premier Taro Aso and other members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group, or APEC, said they would refrain from raising trade barriers over the next 12 months. They also supported overhauls of the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, and the World Bank at a time when more countries need emergency bailouts to avert economic devastation. "The current situation highlights the importance of ongoing financial sector reforms in our economies," the leaders said in a statement. They committed to try to reach a breakthrough in the stalled Doha round of trade talks before the end of this year. China's Hu said leaders must pay attention to the impact of the crisis on the developing world and provide it with support. Japan was expected to reiterate an offer to give $100 billion to the IMF to prod other countries to chip in funds. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon blamed the United States for starting the crisis and called for better banking regulations. In other developments, Britain prepared plans to inject billions of pounds into the economy to stave off recession amid slumping house prices, rising unemployment, and shrinking manufacturing output. Finance Minister Alistair Darling will unveil the package of tax cuts and extra public spending expected to total up to 20 billion pounds ($30 billion) on Monday, newspapers said. A cut in the so-called value added tax or VAT, is aimed at giving a pre-Christmas boost to consumers' spending power.
