What really happened at the G20?

The BBC are still parroting the Gordon Brown/Peter Mandelson line that

"leaders of the world's largest economies reached a deal to tackle the global financial crisis with measures worth $1.1 trillion "

. I blogged that this was not true and explained why. Now I accept that the BBC don't read every word I write but maybe they should keep an eye on the Tax Payers Alliance website, if they did then they would read that:

" * In terms of Cold Hard Cash, the actual new money pledged to the IMF amounts to $240bn, less than one-quarter of the $1.1 trillion in the G20 headline. That $240bn is coming from just three lenders - China ($40bn), Japan ($100bn), and the EU ($100bn). None is coming from the US, and the $100bn from Japan has already been announced once, in February. So real new money amounts to just $140bn, or less than 0.2% of world GDP (pre-Crash).

* Another $250bn for the IMF is supposedly coming from lenders yet to be identified - in reality it will probably have to be raised on the global capital markets.

* The IMF's final $250bn is coming in the form of additional Special Drawing Rights (SDRs). They are the ultimate funny money, basically comprising a committed credit line on which interest is charged. Moreover, the new SDRs will be allocated in proportion to so-called IMF quotas, which means that most will go to the richest countries. And guess what - the richest countries are the ones that won't actually need to draw on them.

* The $100bn of extra lending by the MDBs (multilateral development banks, like the World Bank) will be raised on the international capital markets, not directly from G20 members.

* The $250bn extra trade finance sounds like classic vapourdosh. First, how's it going to divvied up? Second, how's it going to be measured against existing plans? And third, who's going to do the monitoring and enforcement?

Overall, it seems that $1.1 trillion headline may be a teensy bit of an exaggeration. It certainly isn't the coordinated global jump-start promised by Gordo."

Maybe the BBC haven't got around to reading any opposing views to the G20 "stimulus" or maybe they are trying really hard to keep the facts from the UK population. After all there is the small matter of the upcoming local and EU elections and Labour seats to protect.