Huntsville: Britain yesterday denied there was any split between the US and Europe over how to keep the world on the path to economic recovery, ahead of two key summits in Canada.
US President Barack Obama is "very clear that we need to be putting the global economy on a sustainable path to recovery and I think it's something we would agree with him completely on," a spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron insisted.
He added that US leaders "recognise that in countries such as ours with particular deficit problems that there's a case for accelerating the rate of fiscal consolidation and I think that will be something that the G20 will recognise too."
Britain's new government has announced the biggest cuts in decades in an emergency budget aiming to cut its record deficit of £154.7 billion ($230 billion) in the 2009-10 financial year. "I think it's perfectly consistent to have a strong position on fiscal policy and the need for consolidation and being pro-growth," the spokesman said.
But the US has voiced concern about how fast European nations, especially Germany, are cutting spending put in place to boost economies after the global financial crisis amid recent fears over Eurozone debt.
Obama said he hoped to build on "progress by coordinating our efforts to promote economic growth, to pursue financial reform, and to strengthen the global economy."
US Congress negotiators agree on regulation
Nearly two years after the American financial system teetered on the verge of collapse, Congressional negotiators reached agreement early yesterday to reconcile competing versions of legislation that would transform financial regulation. A 20-hour marathon by members of a House-Senate conference committee to complete work on toughened financial rules culminated at 5.39am yesterday in agreements on the two most contentious parts of the financial regulatory overhaul and a host of other provisions. Along party lines, the House conferees voted 20 to 11 to approve the bill; the Senate conferees voted 7 to 5 to approve.
