Now is not the time to relax efforts to support the world economy, Tim Geithner said on Wednesday as he called on international leaders to lay a new path for global growth less reliant on the US consumer.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s meeting of global finance ministers in Washington, DC, the US Treasury secretary said “one of the big mistakes countries make in crises is that they step on the brakes too early or ease up on the accelerator too early at the first signs of progress”.