1.3  Policy responses and the outlook  Policy makers’ response was generalized and remarkably well coordinated. Official interest rates were lowered rapidly; in many countries they are still near zero. Central banks injected liquidity in unprecedented quantities, extending the range of their instruments for action.
The severity of the crisis has created a vast international consensus on the need to accompany monetary action with fiscal expansion. For the G-20 economies, crisis-related discretionary  2  2  IMF (2009). BIS Review 128/2009  fiscal measures are estimated at about 2 per cent of GDP in 2009 and 1.5 per cent in 2010, over the 2007 baseline.