The group of G20 Finance Ministers, after meeting in Washington on Friday, came to the conclusion that global recovery has progressed better than previously anticipated.

They, however, warned against overconfidence, citing Greece's attempt to avert default highlights the risks posed by mounting government debt. Furthermore the G20 failed to reach a clear agreement on credible strategies to ensure financial firms bear the burden of rescues, excessive risk-taking and promote a level playing-field that led to the worst world financial crisis since World War II.

Warning against Overconfidence

The group of G20 overlooked the thorny question on whether China should appreciate its currency, the yuan, after keeping it down for almost two years to aid exporters. G-20 officials did not discuss any specific currency exchange rates.

In a six-page text released after the meeting, the G20 Finance Ministers and central bankers said " global recovery has progressed better than previously anticipated" adding that their efforts helped put an end to financial turmoil in global economy last year.

Despite the G20 optimistic view, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told the G20 that the IMF warned against possible overconfidence.

"We did discuss that some countries made overconfident forecasts about their economies and there was an overall exaggerated optimism" said the Canadian Finance Minister.

Although Greece was not included in the official agenda, it was a top issue during the G20 meeting as well as on the sidelines of the meeting where officials discussed the financial aid mounting to 45 billion euros, the largest ever package to rescue a country.

Finance Ministers said they would not allow debt problems to extend or threaten the EU or the world economy.

European Commissioner for Monetary Affairs Olhi Rehn said that EU officials will have drawn a plan for Greece till the beginning of May.

The G20 group of Finance Ministers and central bankers on the elaboration of credible exit strategies from extraordinary macroeconomic and financial support measures without putting recovery at risk. They, however, stressed that the process was happening at different speeds within and across regions, recognizing that in such circumstance different policy responses are needed.

Divides opened before the talks about whether to tax banks to pay for future rescues and how to rewrite capital rules to prevent taxpayers paying for rescue packages. Britain and the US are trying to usher in new rules for the financial system while Canadian Finance Minister soundly objected to these plans.