Manmohan Singh with his Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd at a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit on Friday. (PTI)

Sept. 27: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was clearly pleased with the outcome of the G20 summit.

It approved his idea of replenishing the resources of the World Bank. It agreed to increase the vote share of India, together with other “under-represented” countries, in the share capital of the International Monetary Fund.

It agreed on continuation of stimulus packages. That will increase the debt of some countries to unsustainable levels, but the G20 countries would worry about it when that crisis comes — and maybe, if their economies are stimulated enough, the point of debt unsustainability will not be reached.

India has lived with extremely high and rising debt levels without any serious harm to its growth; it sets a model for the rest of the world, good or bad as the case may be.

Perhaps the most important conclusion of the summit was to make G20 the primary place for deciding on international economic issues. Originally, the bailiwick was that of the International Monetary Fund; but it has been so weakened by lack of money as well as lack of demand for its services that it could not really command the authority to co-ordinate international economic policies.

There is the new Financial Services Forum; but it is too inchoate now. It has neither the expertise nor the money for effective action. There is the United Nations; but the UN has never been strong on economics.

Some new institutional architecture will have to be created; till it is, G20 has given itself the mandate to co-ordinate economic policies.

So there will be many more G20 meetings, and Manmohan Singh will play an important role in them. The new role he has found suits him; he will undoubtedly shine in the new forum.

It is good to have something to cheer him up; at home, there are always too many curmudgeons to depress him.