...the Pittsburgh Summit hosted by President Obama on September 24th and 25th. [Fact Sheets]

Office of the Press Secretary ___________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release September 25, 2009

The following fact sheets outline the outcomes of the Pittsburgh Summit hosted by President Obama on September 24th and 25th.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/g20/Fact_Sheet_Pittsburgh_Outcomes.pdf

Note: The following text is a quote:

1
THE PITTSBURGH SUMMIT: KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

The Pittsburgh G-20 Summit marks a critical transition from crisis to recovery. When the G-20
last met in April, the world was facing the greatest challenge to the world economy in
generations. The G-20 responded forcefully by committing to a coordinated set of policy actions
that were unprecedented in scale and effect. Those actions pulled the world economy back from
the brink of a depression.

Six months later, the first signs of global recovery are in sight and financial markets have come
back to life. In Pittsburgh, President Obama forged an agreement with G-20 Leaders to continue
implementing aggressive policies to restore economic growth and create jobs, enact a new
Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth and to reform financial regulation and
supervision to avoid a return to the risky practices that led to crisis – policies that will be
supported and implemented by a redesigned global economic architecture.

Strengthen Recovery: Since the G-20 London Summit, stresses in financial markets have eased
markedly, the decline in output has been arrested, and G-20 recovery actions will have saved or
created at least 7 – 11 million jobs by the end of this year. In Pittsburgh, the G-20 agreed to
continue their stimulus until recovery is secured and to start identifying the best ways for the G-
20 to coordinate efforts to wind down the enormous fiscal, monetary, and financial support
efforts taken in response to the crisis once recovery is secured.

Launch Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth: The G-20 adopted
President Obama’s proposed Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth, which
outlines a process for economic cooperation and coordination to help ensure that post-crisis
policies avoid a return to dangerous imbalances that undermine long-term economic growth.
This is the first time such a large number of countries – the G-20 accounts for 85 percent of
world output — have agreed to work together to assess each others’ economic plans, reach
consensus on best practices for needed reforms, and adopt policies to support the necessary
rebalancing of global demand to ensure strong growth for all.

Advance Tough New Financial Market Regulations: Following aggressive U.S. efforts to
strengthen capital standards and compensation rules for companies receiving government
support, the G-20 agreed to strong international standards for bank capital – calling on banks to
hold more and higher quality capital — and also agreed to strong international standards for
compensation aimed at ending practices that lead to excessive risk-taking. Capital allows banks
to withstand losses and is thus crucial to our efforts to help regulators hold banks accountable for
the risks they take. These vital reforms were joined with steps to make the opaque over-the-
counter (OTC) derivatives markets far more transparent; and procedures for managing the failure
of large global financial firms. In each of these areas, the G-20 countries set out strict and

2
precise timetables for reaching international agreement and then for implementing new standards
nationally, promoting a regulatory race to the top. These rules will result in a financial system
that looks far different from the one that led to this financial crisis, with more capacity to absorb
losses and new incentives to avoid a return to past excesses. A return to reckless behavior and a
lack of responsibility that led to the crisis will not be tolerated.

Phase Out Inefficient Fossil Fuel Subsidies and Increase Energy Market Transparency:
Inefficient fossil fuel subsidies encourage wasteful consumption, reduce our energy security,
impede investment in clean energy sources and undermine efforts to deal with the threat of
climate change. The G-20 leaders – including representatives from major energy producers and
other nations with large subsidies – today committed to phase out fossil fuel subsidies over the
medium-term while providing targeted support to help the poorest. They make this commitment
concrete by calling on their Energy and Finance Ministers to report on their implementation
strategies and timelines at the next meeting of the G-20. This groundbreaking effort will
encourage the conservation of energy, improve our energy security, and provide a down-payment
on our commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The G-20 also took steps to better oversee and regulate oil commodity futures markets and
improve oil market transparency by increasing reporting of oil production, consumption and
stock data.

Modernize the Infrastructure of Global Economic Cooperation: The G-20 Leaders
committed to update the architecture for global economic cooperation. They reached a historic
agreement to put the G-20 at the center of their efforts to work together to build a durable
recovery and reform the international financial system. As part of this modernization, they
agreed to a shift of at least 5% in IMF quota share from over-represented countries to under-
represented countries, giving dynamic emerging market and developing economies a say in the IMF
more in line with their weight in today’s global economy. They agreed to an increase of at least 3%
in the voting power of developing and transition countries at the World Bank and called on a
reformed World Bank to play a leading role in responding challenges that require globally
coordinated action.

Support the World’s Most Vulnerable Citizens: The G-20 made specific commitments to
increase access to food, fuel and finance among the world’s poorest, with a new World Bank
Trust Fund to finance investments in food security, a commitment to fund programs that expand
access to renewable energy and a call to identify new ideas to strengthen the poor’s access to
financial system. They agreed to explore new ways of increasing the capability of the
international system to mobilize quickly the resources needed to help the most vulnerable
countries deal with future crises.

Delivering on Previous Commitments: The G-20 took stock of their efforts to implement their
commitments from previous summits, proving that when the G-20 speaks, it acts. Their London
commitment to act forcefully to halt the decline in the global economy resulted in the largest and
most coordinated fiscal and monetary stimulus ever undertaken. The actions of the G-20 are
projected to save or create at least 7 - 11 million jobs across their economies by the end of this

3
year, including over 1 million jobs saved or created as a result of the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The G-20 delivered on its commitment to provide over a trillion
dollars to the international financial systems to enable them to fight the spread of the crisis
including over $500 billion for the IMF’s renewed New Arrangement to Borrow (NAB).
Important first steps have been taken to raise regulatory standards for banks and financial
institutions the world over, strengthening the global financial system.

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/g20/Architecture_Fact_Sheet.pdf

THE PITTSBURGH SUMMIT: CREATING A 21ST CENTURY INTERNATIONAL
ECONOMIC ARCHITECTURE

Dramatic changes in the world economy have not always been reflected in the global architecture
for economic cooperation.

This all started to change today. The G-20 Leaders reached an historic agreement to put the G-
20 at the center of their efforts to work together to build a durable recovery, while avoiding the
financial fragilities that led to the crisis. They committed to a fundamental realignment of voting
weights at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), fully vesting dynamic emerging economies in
this key institution. They agreed to a significant increase in the voice of dynamic emerging
economies in the World Bank and called on a reformed World Bank to play a leading role in
responding to challenges that require globally coordinated action.

Establishing the G-20 as the Premier Global Economic Forum. Leading up to the Pittsburgh
Summit, President Obama called on the world’s leaders to reform global economic institutions to
meet the needs of an interconnected global economy. Making the G-20 the premier forum for
their international economic cooperation brings to the table the countries needed to build a
stronger global economy, reform the financial system, and lift the lives of the poorest.

Greater Representation of Emerging Markets and Developing Countries at the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank. The crisis demonstrated the need for an IMF
equipped to fight the global spread of the crisis and a World Bank able to mobilize vital funds to
help secure much-needed gains in the fight against poverty.

These institutions’ future legitimacy, effectiveness and credibility require tangible reforms to
increase the voice of dynamic emerging economies and developing countries. U.S. leadership
built G-20 consensus to support a shift of at least 5% in quota share from countries currently
over-represented at the IMF to countries that are currently underrepresented. This reform will
give dynamic emerging market and developing economies a say in the IMF more in line with
their weight in today’s global economy. The G-20 also delivered on its promise to contribute
over $500 billion to the IMF’s expanded New Arrangement to Borrow (NAB), dramatically
increasing its financial firepower.

The G-20 also reached agreement to increase the voting power of emerging market and
developing countries at the World Bank by at least 3%. This strengthens the World Bank’s
ability to fulfill its mission to reduce global poverty and its capacity to tackle challenges, such as
climate change and food security, that require globally coordinated actions. These changes
represent a major step forward in our effort to build global institutions that reflect 21st century
economic realities and can effectively address key economic and development challenges.

A stronger and more effective Financial Stability Board and Global Forum. Earlier this
year, all G-20 nations joined an expanded Financial Stability Board, which is coordinating and
monitoring our efforts to make sweeping reforms to transform the system of global regulation.
An expanded Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information is the primary
vehicle in the G-20’s effort to promote greater tax transparency.

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/g20/Framework_Fact_Sheet_Pittsburgh.pdf

1
THE PITTSBURGH SUMMIT: STRONG, SUSTAINABLE, AND BALANCED
GROWTH

President Obama has repeatedly called for the end of this “era of profound irresponsibility” and
for international leaders to take steps, no matter how difficult or unpopular, to ensure when
growth returns, the old imbalances do not.

Today, the G-20 launched a Framework for Strong, Sustainable, and Balanced Growth, a US
proposal. In this Framework, G-20 nations pledged to pursue policies aimed at preventing credit
and asset price cycles from becoming forces of destabilization and to seek a more balanced
pattern of global demand growth. This requires macroeconomic policies that support demand
and decisive progress on structural reforms that foster private demand and strengthen long-run
growth potential. The G-20 nations also agreed to work together to assess how their policies fit
together, to evaluate whether they are collectively consistent with the G-20’s common goals and,
if there are signs of danger, to propose new policies.

Before the crisis, some countries relied too heavily on borrowing for growth, running large
external deficits and building up their international debt. Others relied too heavy on exports for
growth, running large external surpluses and often building up huge reserves. The crisis showed
that this was unsustainable. The U.S. consumer is now likely to save more and spend less, a
necessary change, in the years ahead. That means that U.S. spending alone won’t be able to
propel the global economy forward at the needed speed. A strong, durable recovery requires
shifting from public to private sources of demand to maintain our commitment to fiscal
responsibility – and steps to strengthen domestic sources of growth in countries that previously
drew heavily on exports for growth. Such a strong, durable recovery in turn is essential to
creating jobs here and abroad and to the G-20’s shared commitment to reducing global poverty.

Each G-20 country bears primary responsibility for its own economic management. But each
country’s ability to achieve its goals hinges in part on the actions of others. The Framework
signals a shared recognition among the G-20 that they will need to work together to ensure that
the sum of our national policy choices does not result in a return to old habits by:

• Agreeing that strong global growth requires more responsible borrowing and higher
levels of savings in countries like the United States and policies to increase domestic
sources of growth in today’s external surplus countries.
• Initiating a new process of mutual assessment to evaluate whether the G-20’s policies are
consistent with a more sustainable and balanced pattern and distribution of global growth.
• Committing G-20 nations to put in place macro-prudential regulatory policies to help
prevent credit and asset price cycles from becoming destabilizing forces in the future.

2
These efforts will supplement the robust regulatory reforms the G-20 committed to
implement today.
• Asking the IMF to evaluate whether policies pursued by individual G-20 countries are
collectively consistent with a more sustainable and balanced trajectory for the global
economy and, if needed, recommend how policies could be adjusted to improve the
global outlook.

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/g20/Pittsburgh_Fact_Sheet_Recovery.pdf

THE PITTSBURGH SUMMIT: BOLD AND COORDINATED ACTIONS
FROM CRISIS TO RECOVERY

At the time of the last G-20 Summit in April, the world appeared potentially on the brink of
depression. To prevent that from happening, the G-20 Leaders came together in London and
pledged to do whatever it took to restore confidence, growth and jobs.

The forceful response of the G-20 has worked. Their bold, coordinated action to jumpstart
recovery and repair the financial system have started to yield concrete results for families,
businesses and the most vulnerable individuals and governments. Based on International Labor
Organization (ILO) estimates, the actions G-20 nations have taken since the London Summit will
have saved or created over 7 – 11 million jobs by the end of 2009. The President’s Council of
Economic Advisors has reported that implementation of the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has already saved or created over 1 million jobs in the United States.
While there is much more that needs to be done to restore jobs, confidence and growth, the G-
20’s actions have clearly halted a sharp fall in economic activity and laid the basis for a recovery.

GDP: At the time of the last G-20 meeting, real GDP had fallen 7.4% (at an annual rate) in the
first quarter of 2009 in G-20 economies. Leading up to the Pittsburgh Summit, real GDP rose
1.8% in the second quarter. In the U.S., the first quarter real GDP decline of 6.4% (at an annual
rate) slowed to a 1.0% decline in the second quarter. The Blue Chip Economic Indicators
September survey forecasts a 3% GDP growth rate in the third quarter.

Jobs: In the three months leading up to the London Summit, the unemployment rate across the
G-20 had increased 0.9 percentage points. It had increased 1.3 percentage points in the United
States. In the United States, as in many other countries, unemployment is still unacceptably
high. But it is not rising as fast as it was prior to the April summit. The most recent data shows
that the unemployment rate increased by a much slower 0.3 percentage points over the past three
months in both the G-20 at large and the United States.

Financial Markets: A key indicator of the risk of long-term lending to emerging markets,
EMBI, has fallen by close to half, with the premium emerging markets pay to borrow dropping
from 6.44% on the eve of the London summit to around 3.3%. The cost of insuring against the
default on banks’ long-term debt has fallen by more than half, and the interest rate banks have to
pay to borrow short-term funds (Libor) is down even more. The Case-Shiller home price index
in the United States increased 1.3% following the London Summit, compared to a 7% decline
prior to the Summit.

Consumer Confidence: In the United States, a leading consumer confidence index rose to over
54 in August from the 26.9 reported in March by the Conference Board. A survey of G-20 nation

consumer confidence surveys has found that consumer confidence has risen since the lowest
point reported during the crisis in all thirteen countries with comparable data.

Exports: In March of 2009, G-20 goods exports were 10.7% lower than in December of 2008 –
a pace of decline that if sustained, implied a 36% annual fall. In the most recent data (July), G-
20 goods exports were 9.6% higher than in April. That strong turnaround is mirrored in the
United States. In March, goods and services exports were 7.5% lower than in December 2008.
In July, goods and services exports were 5.8% higher than 3 months earlier.

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/g20/Pittsburgh_Fact_Sheet_Food_Security.pdf

THE PITTSBURGH SUMMIT: PARTNERING ON FOOD SECURITY

At the Summit in L’Aquila, Italy in July, Leaders from thirty-six countries and international
organizations committed to five principles for a food security initiative:

1) Stronger coordination among donors
2) Support of comprehensive strategies
3) Investment through country-owned plans
4) Leveraging effective multilateral institutions
5) Sustained commitments.

As part of that sustained commitment, fourteen countries and the European Commission
committed at least $20 billion over three years to agriculture development, in addition to their
assistance for emergency food aid and nutrition programs. These countries included: Australia,
Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Republic of Korea, Russia,
Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Progress Since the July L’Aquila Summit

Since the L’Aquila Summit, we have seen further progress to launch this important partnership:

New Partners: Additional countries, such as Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Norway, and
Switzerland have pledged their support for the initiative and its approach, helping to bring total
pledges towards agriculture development to $22 billion over the next three years. In addition,
other countries have pledged to provide technical assistance as part of this initiative. Some of
these countries include Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, and Mexico.

G-20 Call for World Bank Food Security Trust Fund: In addition, the United States has been
working with donor partners and the World Bank since L’Aquila to develop a multi-donor trust
fund that supports the initiative, building on the success of the World Bank’s Food Crisis
Response Fund (GFRP) to finance medium- and long-term investments that boost agricultural
productivity and market access in low-income countries.

Development of Implementation Plan: On September 14th and 15th, senior technical experts
from over forty developing and developed countries, regional and international organizations
came together to begin implementing the L’Aquila commitments. This event generated
agreement on actions that we collectively need to take to help developing countries put together,
resource, and implement country-led food security strategies. Secretary Clinton and U.N.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will take the implementation of our commitments a step further
on September 26th when they host a forum for the leaders of countries and international, public,
and private organizations to affirm our shared approach to achieving food security and outline
the key steps that we will take to realize our commitments.
Engaging the Private Sector and Philanthropy

One of the key elements of the U.S. approach to this initiative is to use development assistance to
explore synergies with private philanthropy and private sector actors. As an example, we have
been working with several foundations and businesses deeply involved in food security to see
how best to coordinate our efforts:

Gates Foundation: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has to date committed $1.4
billion as part of a new effort to boost agricultural development focused on smallholder farmers
in the developing world and another half billion dollars for nutrition-related investments largely
for children and their mothers around the globe, has strongly endorsed the new food security
initiative, and agreed to work closely with the G-20 and its partners to better align their activities
and explore areas of collaboration and partnership to maximize impact on the ground.

Rockefeller Foundation: The Rockefeller Foundation will bring over sixty years of experience
in food security and agricultural development to bear, working with us to explore how we can
take to scale successful programs on agricultural inputs and market development, and will share
with us its research and field testing on critical issues including, for example, building climate
change resilience into agricultural development programs and facilitating greater private sector
investments in agricultural development.

Hewlett Foundation: We are collaborating with The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to
develop the most effective ways to integrate small holder farmers into commercial agricultural
value chains, especially along Africa’s regional infrastructure corridors. We will work with the
Hewlett Foundation and others to increase market efficiencies and reduce barriers along these
regional development corridors, through improved infrastructure and policies along these
corridors.

Rabobank Foundation: Rabobank Foundation from the Netherlands, which supports
cooperative microfinance institutions, producers organizations and local savings- and credit
cooperatives in twenty-five countries, has endorsed the new food security initiative, and agreed
to work closely with the G-20 and its partners to help us find ways to use small scale donations,
technical assistance, fair trade-financing, microfinance lending, guarantees, and other tools to
improve access to capital for small scale farmers and cooperatives.

World Economic Forum: The World Economic Forum is collaborating with partners in the
L’Aquila initiative as part of a broader effort to facilitate public-private collaboration to improve
food security and sustainable agriculture. Forum partners develop and catalyze scalable business
models that contribute to sustainable food production. We will work with the Forum to harness
business expertise, in partnership with other sectors, to generate sustainable, market-based
solutions to hunger and poverty.

Initiative for Global Development: We are working with the Initiative for Global
Development (IGD), whose members comprise business leaders from the United States and
Africa, to help build market linkages that serve small producers by identifying both barriers to
agricultural development and new opportunities for investment. IGD provides a forum for
regular consultation with its members, which can facilitate private-sector participation in this
global food security initiative.

Over the next several months, we expect to work with donor and target countries, foundations
and private sector actors to further development the implementation plan for this initiative.

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/g20/Pittsburgh_Fact_Sheet_Energy_Security.pdf

THE PITTSBURGH SUMMIT: ACTING ON OUR GLOBAL ENERGY AND CLIMATE
CHANGE CHALLENGES

Today the Leaders at the Pittsburgh Summit made a critical commitment to phase out inefficient fossil
fuel subsidies over the medium term while providing targeted support for the poorest. This
groundbreaking effort will encourage the conservation of energy, improve our energy security, and
provide a down-payment on our commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Phase out Fossil Fuel Energy Subsidies: G-20 Leaders committed to phase out inefficient fossil fuel
subsidies over the medium term. This will improve energy security, encourage investment in clean
energy sources, promote green growth, free-up resources to use for pressing social needs such as
health, food security, and environmental protection. They recognized the importance of preventing an
adverse effect on the poorest by providing them with targeted cash transfers and other appropriate
forms of support. This reform will not apply to support for clean energy, renewables or technologies
that dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

• Energy Security: Cutting energy subsidies leads to reduced consumption, lower import
demand and increased availability of energy for export – all helping to reduce the likelihood of
a future supply crunch. In 2008, demand grew in countries subsidizing oil by nearly 1 million
barrels per day, despite high prices.
• Climate Change: The G-20 accounts for over 80 percent of the world’s energy use. The
OECD and IEA estimate that eliminating fossil fuel subsidies worldwide would reduce global
greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent or more by 2050. Removing fossil fuel subsidies helps
eliminate market distortions, strengthening incentives for investments in energy efficient
technologies and non-fossil energy supply.
• Economic Growth: Fossil fuel subsidies displace important public investments and drain
government finances, worsen balance of payments, lead to underinvestment in infrastructure,
and can contribute to energy shortages. Twenty of the largest non-OECD governments spend
more than $300 billion in energy subsidies annually.
• Poverty Reduction: Globally, the lowest 40 percent of income earners receive only 15 to 20
percent of the benefit of energy subsidies. The poorest households often lack access to modern
energy services and when they do have access their consumption is so small that many
subsidies offer little economic benefit to them. Eliminating fossil fuel subsidies and using
those freed resources for targeted social assistance could significantly improve the quality of
life of low-income households.
• Health and Environment: Phasing out the subsidies that contribute to unsustainable use of
fossil fuels in tandem with international efforts to expand access to modern energy services will
make a substantial contribution to the reduction of air pollution and help save lives.
• Demonstrating Success: After years of increasing fuel subsidies and problems implementing
price hikes, Indonesia instituted a cash transfer system that enabled the government to direct
cash payments to over 19 million households while reducing across-the-board subsidies. This

action improved the national balance sheet while also enhancing the economic condition of the
poorest 40 percent of the country’s population.

Increase Oil Market Transparency and Oversight: The G-20 committed to improving the
functioning of oil markets through increased reporting of oil production, consumption, and stock data
and better oversight of oil commodity futures markets. Timely and accurate data make markets more
efficient and help avoid excessive volatility by reducing uncertainty of supply and demand trends. G-
20 countries agreed to swiftly implement recommendations by the International Organization of
Securities Commissions to improve oil market regulation and to take further steps to oversee related
over-the-counter markets.

Boost Investments in Clean Technologies and Climate Change: The G-20 is committed to a
resilient, sustainable and green recovery. It underscored its resolve to take strong action to address the
threat of dangerous climate change and committed to intensify its efforts to a successful outcome of the
UN climate conference in Copenhagen. G-20 Leaders called on their finance ministers to report back
at their next meeting with a range of possible options for climate change financing, and to make those
options available as a resource in the UNFCCC negotiations.

These efforts build on a number of successful initiatives undertaken by the international community
and the United States this past year, including:

The Major Economies Forum (MEF): President Obama launched the MEF in April 2009, creating a
new dialogue among developed and emerging economies to combat climate change and promote clean
energy. At the July L’Aquila summit, MEF Leaders announced important new agreements to support
the UN climate talks and launched a new Global Partnership to promote clean energy technologies.

Bilateral Climate Partnerships: The United States is accelerating its collaboration with China, India,
Mexico and other key international partners to combat climate change, coordinate clean energy
research and development, and support the international climate talks.

Taking Action at Home: The United States is investing $80+ billion in clean energy through its
Recovery Act. President Obama announced the first ever joint fuel economy/carbon dioxide tailpipe
standards for cars and trucks in May. The United States House of Representatives has passed a
comprehensive energy and climate bill that would promote clean energy investments and lower U.S.
greenhouse gas emissions more than 80 percent by 2050.

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/g20/Pittsburgh_Fact_Sheet_Most_Vulnerable.pdf

THE PITTSBURGH SUMMIT: SUPPORT FOR THE MOST VULNERABLE

Support for the world’s most vulnerable individuals and countries is a central aim of the G-20’s
aggressive recovery actions. The G-20 has pursued a strategy that is built around three critical
pillars:

The Expanded Engagement of Effective International and Regional Institutions: To
increase the capacity of emerging market and low-income countries to withstand and recover
from this and future external shocks, the G-20 has from the outset mobilized robust action on the
part of leading international and regional institutions.

• In London, the G-20 called for the multilateral development banks (MDBs), including the
World Bank and the African Development Bank, to expand lending by at least $100
billion above pre-crisis levels. This goal was met by the MDBs within months of the G-
20’s initial request. In addition, over the past year IDA committed $14 billion in
resources for the poorest, $2 billion of which was made available under emergency
procedures, and the African Development Fund (AfDF) front-loaded its financing, with
$4.2 billion in commitments expected in 2009, up from $2.4 billion in 2008.

• The G-20’s work has also led to a dramatic expansion of the IMF’s ability to provide
concessional loans to the world’s poorest nations to $8 billion over 2009–10 and $17
billion through 2014 and an increase in trade finance support for emerging market
countries. Over the past year, IMF financing under current programs to the poorest
countries has more than doubled and currently stands at $4.4 billion.

• Building on these important early successes, the G-20 Leaders in Pittsburgh committed to
support continued concessional lending, including through the IDA and Africa
Development Fund, and to review whether General Capital Increases are needed as the
MDBs enact reforms to meet their core missions.

• The G-20 also agreed to address a critical missing piece of the global economic structure
- a lack of a concessional lending facility for the world’s poorest countries in times of
crisis. The G-20 have asked their Finance Ministers to explore the creation of such a
crisis lending facility within IDA to provide support to the poor in future downturns.

Investments in the Foundations for Long-term, Sustainable Development: The G-20 has also
committed to new initiatives that will not only help the poor, but will also foster economic
growth opportunities for the world’s poorest countries by investing in the foundations of
development: sustained production, new infrastructure and financial access.

• Food Security: With over one billion of the world’s people facing chronic hunger and
the world’s poorest countries hit hard by the 2008 spike in world food prices, President
Obama joined with 34 world Leaders in L’Aquila, Italy to launch a comprehensive food
security initiative. The new initiative will align sustained donor resources in support of
country-led strategies, and has already generated over $20 billion (USD) in donor
pledges. At the Pittsburgh Summit, G-20 Leaders called on the World Bank to create a
Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, a multilateral trust fund to expand
agricultural assistance to low-income countries.

• Expanded Clean Energy Resources for Low-Income Countries: As the developing
world seeks to build out the energy infrastructure needed to support domestic
development and attract investment, the G-20 has also adopted a new series of measures
to help the poor access affordable and reliable clean energy. The Leaders agreed to
increase funding for the World Bank’s new Scaling Up Renewable Energy Program and
for other programs that support the deployment of clean energy resources in the
developing world.

• New Opportunities for Financial Access: In order to sustain recovery and reduce the
vulnerability of the world’s poor to future external shocks, the G-20 is also focused on
tackling the fact that half of the world’s people do not have access to financial services.
The G-20 Leaders have established a G-20 Financial Inclusion Experts Group to
recommend innovative approaches to providing financial services to the poor, including
through national regulatory and policy efforts. Underscoring the importance of small
business development to global economic growth, the G-20 has also launched a new
Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Finance Challenge which will partner with the
private sector to support entrepreneurs in poor countries.

Limiting illicit outflows: Those G-20 members who serve as traditional “donors” have
committed to maintaining their ODA levels, while other G-20 members have brought new
development resources to the table. But as the flow of funds to developing countries increases, it
is critical to also prevent its illegal outflow. Corruption and illicit financial flows cost
developing nations billions of dollars per year in public funds that could be used for domestic
investments. The G-20 Leaders recommitted themselves to fighting corruption and reclaiming
this uncounted capital for development by agreeing to increase the transparency of international
aid flows and to strengthen international efforts to recover stolen assets. They called for
ratification of the UN Convention Against Corruption and the adoption and enforcement of laws
against transnational bribery, laws like the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. These efforts will
also help prevent future use of public assets for personal gain.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.