The Group of 20 economies have managed to keep up a show of unity by heading off a blame game between advanced and emerging economies during its meeting of finance ministers and central bank chiefs last weekend.
While their agreement to shore up their collective gross domestic product by more than 2 percent from the current forecast over the next five years still needs to be fleshed out with concrete measures, it was significant that the industrialized and emerging economies, for the first time, shared a numerical goal for growth.
The G-20 meeting was held Feb. 22-23 in Sydney amid market jitters over slowdowns of emerging economies, which had driven global growth in recent years. Since the 2008 Lehman Brothers collapse and the ensuing recession, the world's economies have managed to make a comeback after monetary authorities of major economies introduced massive monetary easing operations.