(AFP) - China's President Hu Jintao prepares to take his seat before the start of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Retreat I in Lima. Asia-Pacific leaders on Sunday were to wrap up a summit in which they vowed a united front against the world finance crisis but with bold initiatives looking unlikely to emerge before the meeting adjourned.(AFP/Rodrigo Arangua)

(AFP) - US President George W. Bush is introduced before his address during the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Lima, Peru. Asia-Pacific leaders on Sunday were to wrap up a summit in which they vowed a united front against the world finance crisis but with bold initiatives looking unlikely to emerge before the meeting adjourned.(AFP/Mandel Ngan)

(AFP) - US President George W. Bush (R) and Peruvian President Alan Garcia wave to the press upon arrival to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Retreat I in Lima. Asia-Pacific leaders on Sunday were to wrap up a summit in which they vowed a united front against the world finance crisis but with bold initiatives looking unlikely to emerge before the meeting adjourned.(AFP/Alfredo Estrella)

(AFP) - The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) heads of state get ready for the start of the Leaders Retreat I in Lima. Asia-Pacific leaders on Sunday were to wrap up a summit in which they vowed a united front against the world finance crisis but with bold initiatives looking unlikely to emerge before the meeting adjourned.(AFP/Rodrigo Arangua)

(AFP) - Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev takes part in the leaders retreat during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit at the Ministry of Defense Convention Center in Lima. Asia-Pacific leaders on Sunday were to wrap up a summit in which they vowed a united front against the world finance crisis but with bold initiatives looking unlikely to emerge before the meeting adjourned.(AFP/Mandel Ngan)

(Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (R) nods as he listens to President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Timothy Geithner before addressing the Economic Club of New York in this October 15, 2008 file photo. (Lucas Jackson/Files/Reuters)

(AFP/File) - Kuwaiti traders follow the market's movement at the stock exchange in Kuwait City on November 20. Stock markets in the energy-rich Gulf region opened the week lower a day after the Saudi bourse -- the region's largest -- slumped more than nine percent, denting sentiment.(AFP/File/Yasser al-Zayyat)

(AFP/File) - A pedestrians walks past the Somerfield supermarket in central London's Soho district, January 2008. The British government is on Monday set to announce a cut in value added tax (VAT) to 15 percent from 17.5 percent to stimulate spending on goods and services as the country faces recession, reports said.(AFP/File/Max Nash)

(AFP/File) - Saudi Arabia has announced that it is slashing its key interest rate by one percentage point to 3.0 percent in response to softening inflationary pressures, Al-Arabiya news channel reported. The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) said it is reducing the repurchase (repo) rate, the country's lending benchmark, by 100 basis points, the Dubai-based satellite channel said.(AFP/File/Hassan Ammar)

(AFP/Japan Pool) - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso (left, sitting) and Chinese President Hu Jintao (centre, standing) at the APEC summit in Lima on November 22. Aso has asked China's Hu to follow his country's commitment to raising funds to the International Monetary Fund.(AFP/Japan Pool)

(AFP/File) - A flood survivor waits for food at a shelter in Hinche in the impovrished nation of Haiti in mid September. Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso has asked Chinese President Hu Jintao to follow his country's commitment to raise funds to the International Monetary Fund as part of a plan to lend up to US$100 billion to provide a financial lifeline to crisis-hit emerging countries.(AFP/File/Thony Belizaire)

(AFP/File) - A woman shops for clothes at a shop in Taipei, Taiwan on November 16. The island's 2009 per capita gross national product is forecast to decline year-on-year, only the fourth drop since the 1970s, due to the global economic slowdown, it has been reported.(AFP/File/Patrick Lin)

(AFP/File) - Buildings are reflected in the window of a Deutsche Bank building in Frankfurt iin October. Despite a huge potential client base, Germany has proven reluctant to adapt its legal and tax systems to attract Islamic finance, which has enjoyed stellar success in Britain.(AFP/File/John MacDougall)

(DDP/AFP/File) - Members of the Muslim community pray at the Merkez mosque in the western German city of Duisburg in October. Despite a huge potential client base, Germany has proven reluctant to adapt its legal and tax systems to attract Islamic finance, which has enjoyed stellar success in Britain.(DDP/AFP/File/Volker Hartmann)

(AFP/File) - Japan's Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa who has said the country is ready to take more stimulus measures if the deteriorating US economy continues to impact on the world's second largest economy.(AFP/File/Kazuhiro Nogi)

(AFP) - Europe's biggest airline Air France-KLM group chairman and CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta speaks during a press conference to announce the second quarter results and the full-year forecast, on November 20 in Paris. Air France-KLM, has remained cagey about its outlook for 2008/2009 while German carrier Lufthansa lowered its target for this year at the end of October.(AFP/Eric Piermont)

(DDP/AFP/File) - File photo shows a worker assembling an Opel Corsa car at the plant of car maker Opel in Eisenach, eastern Germany. The global economic slump has already hit the European auto, chemical and transport sectors, and it looks like the list will soon get longer.(DDP/AFP/File/Jens-Ulrich Koch)

(DDP/AFP/File) - File photo shows the plant of German chemicals company BASF in Ludwigshafen. The global economic slump has already hit the European auto, chemical and transport sectors, and it looks like the list will soon get longer.(DDP/AFP/File/Martin Oeser)

(AFP/File) - File photoshows city workers visiting a cashpoint machine in central London. Britain's business leaders gather in London Monday seeking urgent government help as the country teeters on the brink of its first recession in over 15 years, as a result of the global credit crunch.(AFP/File/Geoff Caddick)

(AFP/File) - Members of the public walk beneath the coat of arms outside Westminster City Hall in central London in October. Britain's business leaders gather in London Monday seeking urgent government help as the country teeters on the brink of its first recession in over 15 years, as a result of the global credit crunch.(AFP/File/Adrian Dennis)

(AFP/File) - File photo shows city workers in central London. Britain's business leaders gather in London Monday seeking urgent government help as the country teeters on the brink of its first recession in over 15 years, as a result of the global credit crunch.(AFP/File/Geoff Caddick)

(AFP/File) - A Malaysian man walks through an oil palm plantation in the province of Batang Berjuntai in late February. The global economic slowdown has sent palm oil prices crashing, spelling misery for countless smallholders who have been forced to watch their harvests rot on the trees.(AFP/File)

(AFP/File) - An activist from the Centre for Orangutan Protection takes place in a demonstration highlighting the role played by palm oil plantations in destroying natural habitat in Jakarta in early May. The global economic slowdown has sent palm oil prices crashing, spelling misery for countless smallholders who have been forced to watch their harvests rot on the trees.(AFP/File/Jewel Samad)

(AFP/HO/Greenpeace/File) - A Greenpeace handout shows excavators clearing Sago, the Papua's food staple, to make way for palm oil plantations in Papua Province, Indonesia's last intact forest on October 8. The global economic slowdown has sent palm oil prices crashing, spelling misery for countless smallholders who have been forced to watch their harvests rot on the trees.(AFP/HO/Greenpeace/File/Ardiles Rante)

(Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush talks with Jack Ma, chairman of China's Alibaba Group, as they meet with other delegates during meeting with business executives at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, November 22, 2008. (Ivan Alvarado/Reuters)

(Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush and Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev meet in Lima November 22, 2008. Both leaders are in the country for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

(Reuters) - Demonstrators protest against the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit being held with the presence of U.S. President George W. Bush, near the residence of the U.S. ambassador in Lima, November 22, 2008. The banner in background reads, 'APEC is hunger and unemployment. Bush go home.' (Mariana Bazo/Reuters)

(Reuters) - China's President Hu Jintao takes his seat before the start of the first meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, November 22, 2008. (Ivan Alvarado/Reuters)

(Reuters) - China's President Hu Jintao (L) and Hong Kong's Chief Executive Donald Tsang walk toward their vehicle after a meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, November 22, 2008. (Enrique Castro-Mendivil/Reuters)

(Reuters) - Leaders take their seats at the start of the first meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, November 22, 2008. (Ivan Alvarado/Reuters)

(Reuters) - Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe speaks during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in Lima November 22, 2008. (Pilar Olivares/Reuters)

(AP) - In this Jan. 24, 2008 file photo, Lawrence Summers speaks during a working session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. President-elect Barack Obama planned to announce the leaders of his economic team Monday Nov. 24, 2008 naming Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary and Lawrence Summers to direct the National Economic Council, transition officials said. Summers, 53, a former treasury secretary under Bill Clinton and one-time president of Harvard University, will advise Obama from the White House. Officials said he would coordinate the federal response to the economic meltdown across several agencies. ((AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)

(AFP/File) - A staff member of Singapore's Marina Bay stands next to the company's property development model during "MIPIN Asia", the international property market exhibition in Hong Kong, on November 19. There has been no worse time to hold an expo on the Asian property market this year than the month of November, as the impact of the global financial crisis on the region unravels.(AFP/File/Ted Aljibe)

(AFP/File) - Participants stand next to a property display at "MIPIN Asia", the international property market exhibition for Asia-Pacific at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, on November 19. There has been no worse time to hold an expo on the Asian property market this year than the month of November, as the impact of the global financial crisis on the region unravels.(AFP/File/Ted Aljibe)

(AFP/File) - A visitor looks at a model house for a Mission Hills property development in the Chinese border city of Shenzhen, displayed at "MIPIN Asia", the international property market exhibition for Asia-Pacific at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, on November 19.(AFP/File/Ted Aljibe)

(AFP) - The seafront of Douglas, the capital of the Isle of Man. The global banking crisis is shining a spotlight on this windswept island in the Irish Sea as world leaders including US president-elect Barack Obama threaten to crack down on tax havens.(AFP/Guy Jackson)

(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama waves as he leaves his first press conference following his election victory in Chicago, in this file photo from November 7, 2008. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)

(AFP/File) - File photo shows an official at the Bank of Korea arranging new bank notes in the central bank's basement in Seoul. The country's central bank is likely to inject up to US$3.3 billion into a state fund aimed at easing a credit squeeze in the country's debt market, a report has said.(AFP/File/Jung Yeon-Je)

(Canadian Press) - GMC vehicles are parked at a Toronto dealership in this file photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

(AFP) - Commercial ships are moored at Piraeus port containter terminal in Greece. The past months have not been pleasant for Greece's globe-spanning shipowning class, with the ongoing financial crisis badly denting freight rates and recurring pirate strikes in the Gulf of Aden escalating to previously unthought levels. AFP PHOTO/ Louisa Gouliamaki(AFP/Louisa Gouliamaki)

(AFP) - Commercial ships are tied up off the Piraeus port near Eleusina. The past months have not been pleasant for Greece's globe-spanning shipowning class, with the ongoing financial crisis badly denting freight rates and recurring pirate strikes in the Gulf of Aden escalating to previously unthought levels.(AFP/Louisa Gouliamaki)

(AFP) - Commercial ships are moored at the new pier of the Piraeus port in Greece. The past months have not been pleasant for Greece's globe-spanning shipowning class, with the ongoing financial crisis badly denting freight rates and recurring pirate strikes in the Gulf of Aden escalating to previously unthought levels.(AFP/Louisa Gouliamaki)

(Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush (R) is greeted by Peruvian President Alan Garcia as he arrives at the Ministry of Defense Convention Center for the first meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, November 22, 2008. (Mariana Bazo/Reuters)

(AFP) - Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa speaks in Quito on November 21, 2008. Ecuador is studying legal options available to refuse payment on "illegitimate foreign debt," Correa said Saturday.(AFP/Rodrigo Buendia)

(AFP/IMF/File) - The IMF's chief economist Olivier Blanchard, seen here in May 2008, has warned that the global financial crisis is set to worsen and that the situation will not improve until 2010, a report said Saturday.(AFP/IMF/File)

(Canadian Press) - Ontario Premiere Dalton McGuinty speaks to the media, while being asked questions regarding Ontario's automotive industry, in Toronto on Friday, Nov. 14, 2008. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

(AFP/File) - A picture of the Repsol logo at the headquarters in Madrid on November 21, 2008. Spain's conservative opposition leader Saturday hit out at the possible sale of a stake in oil major Repsol to Russian energy group Lukoil, saying he would do "everything possible" to prevent it.(AFP/File/Philippe Desmazes)

(Ethiopian Airlines) - Ethiopian Airlines has signed a multi-million dollar agreement to purchase eight small airplanes to boost its domestic coverage, the airline announced on Saturday.(Ethiopian Airlines)