UK:Stimulus needed to 'take world out of depression': British PM
05 Feb 2009 12:47 AM
LONDON, Feb 4 AFP - Governments need to agree co-ordinated monetary and fiscal stimulus measures to "take the world out of depression," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Wednesday.
Brown, who is to host a summit of the Group of 20 advanced and developing nations in April, underlined the need for a rapid agreement on the World Trade Organisation (WTO)'s Doha round of trade liberalisation talks.
"The biggest danger that the world faces is a retreat into protectionism," he told MPs at his weekly question session in the House of Commons.
"It's all the more reason why first of all we should sign the Doha agreement ... and secondly we should make sure that every country is analysed for what it is doing by the World Trade Organisation to prevent protectionism.
"It also is absolutely clear that we should agree as a world on a monetary and fiscal stimulus that will take the world out of depression," added the British leader, who more usually uses the words recession or slowdown.
The main focus of the G20 summit in the British capital on April 2 will be on reforming international finance rules in the wake of the worst crisis since the 1930s Great Depression.
The G20, currently chaired by Britain, comprises leading industrialised countries and emerging giants such as China and India. The group's leaders last met in Washington in November.
