LONDON: World leaders yesterday clinched a $1.1 trillion (BD415 billion) deal to combat the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and tightened the rules to stop it happening again.

At a G20 summit in London, they agreed to publish a blacklist of tax havens that could lead to sanctions, and for the first time to impose oversight on large hedge funds and credit rating agencies.

US President Barack Obama declared it a "turning point" for the world economy, even though he had won no promises for more government spending to combat a deepening world recession.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown conceded that there were "no quick fixes" but said the decisions would shorten the recession and save jobs.

Addressing a key demand from France and Germany, Brown said the leaders agreed "there will be an end to tax havens that do not transfer information on request. The banking secrecy of the past must come to an end."

Brown said the G20 leaders have committed on the day to new resources of $1.1trn that would be made available to help the world economy through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other institutions.

This included $250bn (BD94.5bn) of IMF reserve units called Special Drawing Rights. In addition, the IMF would see its own resources tripled, with up to $500bn (BD189bn) of new funds, of which $40bn (BD15.1bn) would come from China.

The G20 asked the IMF to speed up sales of gold as well to raise funds to help the poorest countries. And it agreed a trade finance package worth $250bn over two years to support global trade flows.

Stocks, battered by the crisis, reacted positively. The index of top European shares was up five per cent. London's FTSE 100 index ended 4.3pc higher. On Wall Street, the Nasdaq was up 3.87pc and the Dow Jones 3.3pc. In London, oil prices gained $4.31 to settle at $52.75 a barrel.