G20 leaders pledge against competitive devaluation of currency

Global leaders today pledged to refrain from competitive devaluation of their currencies and to take steps to mitigate risks arising from excessive capital flows to emerging markets like India.

The Seoul Action Plan, agreed at the end of the two-day Summit of the G20 leaders including Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, called for moving towards more market-determined exchange rates.

The declaration comes amid a currency war between the US and China, which also had ramifications for India and several other countries in terms of their exports becoming uncompetitive.

Singh had earlier called for an end to competitive devaluation of currencies. "We must at all costs avoid competitive devaluation and resist any resurgence of protectionism," he said at the Summit of the leaders of the world's most influential developed and developing countries.

The G20 group includes India, the US, China, Germany, France, Brazil, Russia and Japan.