Judged against the low expectations before the G-20 meeting, the outcome of the London summit meeting was not too bad. The G-20 communiqué signaled one clear and important achievement: beefing up the resources of the International Monetary Fund substantially; and, by agreeing to issue $250 billion new Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), this beefing up has been accomplished in a sensible way. New SDRs are like usable foreign exchange for countries that do not have enough reserves. They are to come unencumbered so they can be used quickly.
But if the communiqué is to be judged even against the not-so-ambitious standard of re-shaping the system for the future and heading off the real dangers, the outcome was disappointing in two important respects: governance of the international economic system, and protectionism. But the biggest achievement may well be that there will be another G-20 summit.
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