Finance ministers and central bank governors are gathering in Washington for their annual spring meetings. The outlook is challenging, but we have not been idle.

The global economy is projected to shrink this year for the first time in more than six decades. The collapse of world trade is expected to be the largest since the end of the second world war. A global process of deleveraging is adversely affecting the availability of financing domestically and internationally. Job losses in the US have topped 5m since our recession began.