Gordon Brown declared on Thursday that “this is the day the world came together to fight recession not with words but with a plan for economic recovery and reform.” He said the global fiscal stimulus, the largest “the world has ever seen”, amounted to $5,000bn while there was another new $1,100bn “programme of support to restore credit, growth and jobs in the world economy”.

Figures at the end of any international summit need to be examined closely, particularly those presented by the UK prime minister. His reputation for numerical inflation, repeat announcements and double counting precedes him.

The emphasis on quantities rather than concrete agreements also serves to mask the big missing element in the communiqué: a new and binding commitment to specific measures to clean up the toxic assets of the world's banking systems. On this, all the G20 agreed was that the countries would do the right thing. Rather than speeding up actions as the IMF had hoped, the leaders said: “We are committed to take all necessary actions to restore the normal flow of credit through the financial system and ensure the soundness of systemically important institutions” in line with a flexible framework agreed in mid-March.