WASHINGTON (MNI) – The following is the statement by Treasury
Secretary Tim Geithner issued Friday evening after the conclusion of the
Group of 20 meeting:

Good afternoon.

A year ago, trade was plunging by more than a third, global output
was contracting at an annual rate of 6 percent, financial markets were
frozen, and people were losing their jobs at an alarming rate.

A year ago, we acted with unprecedented force and speed to pull the
global economy back from the abyss.

Together, we injected $5 trillion of global fiscal stimulus and
mobilized an additional $1 trillion for international financial
institutions to raise global output, support growth, and restart
international trade.

In the United States, the $787 billion American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was put in place to support incomes and demand.

While controversial at the time, our decision to subject large
financial institutions to stress tests through the Supervisory Capital
Assessment Program (SCAP) and make the results fully transparent marked
a turning point in global financial markets. Since that time, U.S.
banks have raised more than $150 billion in high-quality capital.

Because of our decisive and coordinated measures at home and across
the G-20, the world economy is growing and the financial system is
healing.

Last April, the IMF was projecting global growth in 2010 of just
1.9 percent. It is now projecting growth of 4.2 percent, an increase of
2.3 percentage points. Trade has risen more than 25 percent, and
finance is flowing again to emerging markets.

But much remains to be done.

Although the economic recovery is gathering momentum, the pace of
expansion still remains uneven across countries and regions and
unemployment is still unacceptably high.

As we work to reinforce a recovery led by private demand, we need
to rebalance the global economy.

In the United States, we are moving to stimulate private investment
and job creation and to strengthen the foundation for future growth.
Private savings have increased significantly. President Obama has
outlined a series of proposals that will reduce the deficit from more
than 10 percent of GDP in FY 2010 to just below 4 percent in FY 2014.
Our current account deficit, as a share of the economy, has fallen by
over 3 percentage points since its peak in 2005.

For countries with large external surpluses and high savings rates
that are lagging the recovery, there is a strong case for policy reforms
that will strengthen domestic demand, promote consumption growth, and
reduce the reliance on exports for growth.

In large emerging economies, we have seen encouraging signs of a
shift toward more rapid consumption growth that needs to be sustained
and reinforced by a return to market-oriented exchange rates, where
appropriate.

We all agree on the need for a strong global framework of financial
reforms to provide for a more stable global financial system, with
consistent rules enforced more evenly across countries.

Achieving such a framework will require both continued
international coordination and bold efforts at the national level.

Next week, in the United States, the Senate will begin
consideration of strong and comprehensive financial reform legislation.
That legislation, consistent with the reforms put forward by the
Administration and passed by the House of Representatives, imposes
strong constraints on risk taking; limits the size of institutions;
brings transparency and robust oversight to the derivatives market;
provides strong protections for consumers and investors; and gives us
the tools to wind down large, failing financial firms without putting
the rest of the financial system or the taxpayers at risk.

Taken together, these reforms will lay the foundation for a more
stable, resilient financial system, less prone to panic and collapse.

This financial crisis caused enormous suffering, affecting the most
vulnerable in countries around the world. In the shadow of the
financial crisis, we face a crisis of hunger and malnutrition.

Yesterday we came together to launch the new Global Agriculture and
Food Security Program.

We are seeing progress to advance our commitment to phase out
inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.

I look forward to the conclusion this weekend of a transformative
reform agenda for the World Bank, including new capital. The World Bank
will be more effective with a best practice disclosure policy, a unified
financial framework that frees up additional resources for the poor,
greater performance orientation, and a clear focus on core missions.

We continue to move to modernize the governance structures for both
the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to reflect todays
global economic realities.

We have worked together over the past year to restore growth. The
global recovery is gathering momentum. And we are committed to continue
to work together to build a more resilient financial system and a more
balanced and stronger pattern of global growth.

** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **

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