The challenge for this meeting of the G20, the first of the French presidency, was to decide on the right indicators to combat the international economic imbalances that had been accused of underlying the global economic crisis and the “ currency wars” in the autumn.

In spite of France's desire to reach agreement on binding and quantified objectives, the participants only managed to agree on the tools for measuring international imbalances and not on the levels at which the various parameters should be maintained. The chosen indicators are:
- debt and public deficits,
- the rate of savings and private debt,
- external imbalances due to the balance of trade and net flows of investment revenue.

However, effective real exchange rates and the levels of foreign currency reserves were not included, as China was against it. These two criteria are very much at the heart of disagreements between certain western countries and China with the former accusing the latter of keeping the value of its currency artificially low in order to boost exports and to build substantial reserves of foreign exchange.

Apart from the list of indicators, the final communiqué from the participants contains several declarations of intent. These include reaffirming their commitment to coordinating their approach to the economy so as “to create strong, sustainable and balanced growth”.

The twenty Finance Ministers also emphasised the need to improve the international monetary system in order to avoid “ destabilising flows of capital” and “unregulated exchange rate movements”.

The next step in the negotiations, due to take place in Washington at the next G20 meeting on 14th and 15th April, will aim at agreeing on “indicative guidelines” for evaluating each of the chosen parameters. Then, at end September during the annual meetings of the World Bank and the IMF, the member countries will attempt to reach agreement on the policies that will help to address the causes of economic imbalances.