Darling says G20 must honour pledges

By Sumeet Desai

LONDON (Reuters) - G20 nations must make good on pledges to restore growth and boost the IMF's resources, Chancellor Alistair Darling told Reuters on Thursday ahead of this week's meeting of global policymakers.

Finance ministers from the G7 and wider G20 group gather in Washington on Friday on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings.

In an interview before he flies to the United States, Darling said the main focus would be on getting the world out of recession and following up on the pledges made at the London summit of G20 leaders earlier this month.

The G20, which includes both rich and developing nations, then offered a trillion-dollar lifeline to the world economy, including a promise to treble the IMF's war chest to help countries fight the downturn to $750 billion.

"The key question is to make sure that people actually do it because it's the actual execution of the promises that's the most important thing here -- getting the IMF its money, making sure countries do what they signed up to," Darling said.

Asked whether there would be any discussion of currencies and sterling in particular, whose weakness earlier this year was being singled out by some European policymakers, Darling said: "There's always a wide-ranging discussion.

"But I think people are concentrating on their economies, on the world economy and on trade. Those are the key issues."

Nor did he expect any discussion of replacing the dollar as the world's reserve currency, as some have speculated.