Britain and the United States are not planning to ask the leaders of G-20 nations to announce specific spending plans to help fix the worst economic crisis in decades when they meet in London next week, British foreign secretary David Miliband said on Sunday.
Speaking to BBC, he 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.
Countries will not be asked to reveal their public spending plans at the summit, but they should realise that boosting demand will play a key role in any recovery, he said.
?This G-20 summit was never about writing national budgets. It is about the international financial architecture.
?Let us not hear this (idea) that somehow the Anglo-Saxons are for fiscal policy and the other Europeans are somehow for regulation?you have got to do both,? he said. ?You have got to mend the banking system, but you have also got to make sure that demand is put back into the economy.?
Since October, the Indian government has announced two fiscal packages, including across-the-board cut in excise duty and service tax. RBI has injected potential liquidity of 3,90,000 crore in the system, including slashing key interest rates by 400 basis points.
But Indian industry is worried about developed countries resorting to protectionism to stimulate their economies. Industry leaders have asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday to raise the issue of protectionism at the G-20 meeting.
Leaders from the world?s 20 biggest economies meet in the British capital on Thursday to discuss how better regulation, help for international trade and extra spending could help pull the world out of the worst recession since the 1930s.
Earlier this month, a meeting of G-20 finance ministers to pave the way for the London summit was dominated by reports of divisions between Washington and European countries over the balance between extra spending and tighter regulation.
A leaked copy of a draft G-20 communique that suggested Britain was pushing for G-20 nations to back $2 trillion in stimulus measures was out of date, Miliband said.
?That was actually a previous draft of the declaration,? Miliband said, adding that the $2 trillion figure has already been achieved if you add up all the global stimulus packages.
White House officials said on Saturday that US President Barack Obama would stress the need for ?significant stimulus? to boost the world economy, although he will not demand extra spending at once.
?Nobody has asked and nobody is asking any country to come to London to commit to do more right now,? Michael Froman, US deputy national security adviser, told reporters.