The global economy is emerging faster than expected from the deep recession, finance ministers from the world's leading economies, the G20, have said.

After talks in Washington, they said the pace of the recovery was largely due to the huge amounts of government money pumped into national economies.

In Washington, G20 finance ministers said government efforts to jump-start recovery were paying off.

"The global recovery has progressed better than previously anticipated largely due to the G20's unprecedented and concerted policy effort," the statement said.

But it stressed that the process was happening "at different speeds within and across regions".

"We recognise that in such circumstance different policy responses are needed."

The G20 statement added that members should develop credible strategies for reducing stimulus spending and to allow ultra-low interest rates to rise to more normal levels.

The finance ministers also asked the IMF to analyse in detail a proposal to levy taxes on big banks and other financial institutions to stem risk and pay for possible financial failures.

The statement said that such measures would look at "how the financial sector could make a fair and substantial contribution towards paying for any burdens associated with government interventions to repair the banking system".

Although the statement did not mention what was the most pressing threat to global financial stability, Greece did loom large in G20 discussions.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he welcomed the greater sense of urgency being shown over Greece.

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