ST ANDREWS, Scotland (AFP) - The world's biggest economies have agreed a timetable on mutual monitoring of each other's economic policy aimed at preventing a fresh financial crisis, a G20 communique said on Saturday.
G20 finance ministers followed up an agreement made at a September summit in Pittsburgh with a roadmap for progress at a meeting in St Andrews, outlining a four-stage programme to be tied-up by November 2010.
World leaders at September's Pittsburgh G20 summit agreed a new system to coordinate economic decision-making and encourage stable, long-term growth.
The new system is designed to ensure there is no repeat of last year's near-meltdown that notably saw the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers.
An update on the "framework for strong, sustainable, and balanced growth" was unveiled on Saturday.
Firstly, the G20 said it planned to set out "national and regional policy frameworks, programmes and projections" by the end of January 2010.
It hopes to make further progress by self-imposed deadlines in April and June of next year, before developing "more specific policy recommendations" in time for a leaders G20 summit in November 2010.
"Our first challenge in using the framework will be the transition from crisis response to stronger, more sustainable and balanced growth, consistent with our goals of sustainable public finances; price stability; stable, efficient and resilient financial systems; employment creation; and poverty reduction," the G20 communique said.
