“Yes, we have a timetable,” the source said when asked whether G20 finance ministers had followed up an agreement made at a September summit in Pittsburgh with a roadmap for progress.

World leaders at September’s Pittsburgh G20 summit agreed a new system to coordinate economic decision-making and encourage stable, long-term growth.

The new system is designed to ensure there is no repeat of last year’s near-meltdown that notably saw the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers.

A formal announcement on the “framework for strong, sustainable, and balanced growth” was due in a communique to be issued Saturday at the end of the G20 finance ministers’ meeting being held in St Andrews, Scotland.