Britain and the United States will not push G20 leaders for specific spending pledges to help fix the worst economic crisis in decades when they meet in London next week, Britain's finance minister said on Sunday. Alistair Darling told the BBC that countries would not be asked to reveal their public spending plans at the summit, but they should realise boosting demand will play a key role in any recovery. “We are not saying that everybody has got to do the same thing, at the same time, on the same day,” he said. “We do need to...make sure we have a commitment for countries to act together, to do what is appropriate in their countries. By acting together in that way, the effect is so much better.” A draft G20 communique on the Financial Times' website on Sunday said leaders hoped support for banks, higher spending and more money for the IMF would lift the world economy out of recession by the end of 2010. The 24-point draft set out action to be taken on hedge funds, bankers' pay, tax havens, currency valuation and banks' capital reserves. But it appeared to contain no specific numbers on further government stimulus measures to boost demand. G20 leaders planned to meet again before the end of the year to review progress, the draft said. Additional funding would be directed to emerging and developing countries facing stability threats, but again specifics were omitted. Rift denied British Foreign Secretary David Miliband played down talk of a deep rift between countries that support further stimulus, such as Britain and the United States, and those that have urged caution, including Germany and France. “This G20 summit was never about writing national budgets. It is about the international financial architecture,” he told the BBC. A separate leaked copy of a draft G20 communique that suggested Britain was pushing for G20 nations to back $2 trillion in stimulus measures was out of date, Miliband said. White House officials said they would stress the need for “significant stimulus” to boost the world economy, although he would not demand extra spending at once. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said there had been “real, measurable progress” amongst G20 nations on fiscal stimulus protectionism and help for the IMF. China's Ambassador to London Fu Ying said China was ready to spend a limited amount to boost the economy. On Saturday Norway said it was ready to give up to $4.56 billion to support the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and called for the fund to play a bigger role in supervising financial markets.
