Global fiscal action must target demand - Brown

Fiscal measures will work best if they are part of a coordinated, international approach to maintain demand, British prime minister…

Fiscal measures will work best if they are part of a coordinated, international approach to maintain demand, British prime minister Gordon Brown said today.

"Since this is a global downturn, it requires a global solution," he said in the text of a speech to be delivered in London this evening.

"As with the banks stabilisation plan, the benefits of any individual country's fiscal actions will be all the greater if this is part of a concerted and fairly distributed international response to maintain global demand."

Mr Brown and other leaders meet in Washington next weekend to discuss longer term solutions for dealing with the economic downturn, and Brown has said he wants to encourage coordinated fiscal action to run alongside a series of coordinated moves on interest rates and on bank recapitalisation.

Reuters