In addition to tripling the lending capacity of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to $750 billion, the G20 summit saw world leaders take several other measures to ensure international trade resumes, protectionism is avoided, and countries struggling with the financial crisis receive the necessary assistance. A draft communique issued by the summit Thursday outlined.

Firstly, in conjunction with increased funding for the IMF, the finance officials pledged Global “quantitative easing”, involving a vast increase of Special Drawing Rights (SDR), by $250bn. SDRs, a form of IMF shadow currency, are reserve funds which can be converted into any usable currency for the purpose of assisting countries in need; recently, the Bank of England launched a similar initiative which involved the injection of £75 billion into the British economy. Though SDRs are available for all countries, it is expected that more developed countries will loan their share to nations hardest by the recession without the means to recover alone. The decision to raise the amount to $250 billion is a more than 1000% increase.

A particular bone of contention for several European powers in recent weeks, particularly Germany and France, was the projected commitment to major fiscal stimulus in each country. The aforementioned nations refused to make specific promises with regards to government spending, but a consensus was reached to disclose the to-date amount of stimulus issued — $5 trillion. U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown explicitly confirmed the possibility of further government bailouts should the ever-changing situation warrant them.

It was speculated during the summit that one major hurdle before the global economy is the significant decline in international trading, the first of its kind in decades. Due to the credit crunch, exporters in the developing world have struggled to obtain credit, which, it has been proposed, the World Bank and other financial institutions will combat with new trade credit guarantees totaling an estimated $250 billion. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was the major driving force behind this initiative, which he outlined in detail during a recent trip to South America.

Another significant proponent in the struggle to increase international trading is the sudden uprising of Protectionism in economically developed countries, a response brought on, most likely, by fears of deeper recession. The G20 pledged to implement a 12-month halt on the introduction of new trade barriers, effectively freezing tariffs and quotas on international goods at their current levels, a promise which if honoured will play a large part in preventing further economic decline. Economists have said that it was primarily protectionist policies which excacerbated the 1930’s depression. Skepticism is high amongst the World Bank and other international institutions, in large part due to similar promises made in November of last year not being kept by 17 nations.

In order to ensure that these changes are made, and perhaps more importantly honoured for a substantial length of time, vast improvements to the standard of international finance monitoring were also called for. The calls for change pledged to transform the present Financial Stability Forum into more of a global banking watchdog with a pro-active mandate. Under the new title of Financial Stability Board (FSB), the watchdog will turn its attention to the scrutiny of the risks taken by financial institutions, and impose stricter reprimand through national channels on those which do not honour suitable risk assessment.

In order for the policies to be effectively put into practice, there will need to be substantial powers granted to the FSB, a provision which has not been made. Skepticism surrounds the real enforcement power of the Board, but world leaders in attendance are hailing the summit as a great success.

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