G20 farce

Leaders of the world's biggest economies wound up the G20 summit in Cannes today without having come to an agreement on steps to counteract the deepening economic crisis.

Attempts to address the deepening financial problems in the US and European Union reached a consensus that the resources of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should be boosted - but no deal on how or when, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy saying the G20 could look at the question again in February.

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said that increasing IMF resources would help countries around the world - "not just the eurozone" - but the emerging economies which might provide extra funds remained sceptical.

China in particular has shown a preference in recent years for bilateral deals which bypass the Western-dominated institution.

The summit's final communique suggested that the IMF set up a separate fund for assistance to the eurozone so that countries which do not wish to contribute can avoid doing so.

The US, which is itself grappling with recession, opposed the prospect of its IMF contributions being used to bail out European governments.

Investors in the European Financial Stability Facility - the so-called "bailout fund" - were even harder to find, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel admitting that no non-eurozone countries had shown any interest in it.

China, Russia and Brazil suggested that any assistance for Europe would have to be channelled through alternative routes which allowed them a greater say in how loans were spent.

Eurozone chiefs had pinned their hopes on a Chinese buy-up of sovereign debt but Chinese leaders are wary of a plan lambasted in the country's media as "the poor rescuing the rich."

Many Chinese economists hold that China would have little chance of recovering money invested in Europe.