PRESSURE has been building in the G-8, particularly from fiscally conservative nations such as Germany and Canada, for plans to wind down stimulus as soon as it is no longer needed - 'exit strategies' that would prevent market interest rates from climbing high enough to threaten economic recovery.

The communique stressed there would be no immediate end to stimulus, noting unemployment might continue rising even if production began picking up. 'While the economic outlook is improving, the situation remains uncertain,' it said.

Mr Geithner indicated the United States was unlikely to tighten policy any time soon: 'It is too early to shift toward policy restraint.' Underlining the precariousness of any economic recovery, data released as the meeting began on Friday showed euro zone industrial production shrank by more than a fifth in April, dropping faster than markets had expected.

The debate over stimulus is diplomatically sensitive because if some countries roll back their programmes earlier than others, they may be accused of not doing their fair share to ensure a global recovery.

Russian finance minister Alexei Kudrin described the meeting as 'stormy", featuring heated debate on what stage of the crisis the world had reached. -- REUTERS