Leaders at the G20 summit in Canada have agreed to cut national budget deficits without stunting economic growth.
Summit host Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the group's richest members should halve their deficits within three years.
Correspondents note that every major G20 country had already committed to that target before the summit.
Proposals for a global levy on banks have been dropped, Mr Harper said.
Instead, that will be left to individual countries.
Mr Harper also said government debt, as a proportion of the economy, "should be at least stabilised or on a downward trend by 2016".
He added: "All leaders recognise that fiscal consolidation is not an end in itself. There will be a continued role for ongoing stimulus in the short term as we develop the framework for strong sustainable and balanced growth".
Growth worriesOn banking, the G20 also committed to agree on new minimum levels of capital for banks in time for the next summit in Seoul in November.
Precise figures will not be reached until then, says the BBC's economics editor Stephanie Flanders.
The idea is that banks will be required to hold enough in reserve to prevent the need for government support as was needed in the financial crisis of 2007-09.
The group of 20 leading and emerging nations had been split over the pace of budget cuts.
US President Barack Obama warned against fast and deep budget cuts, fearing damage to global growth.
But European members, including the UK, France, and Germany, have already led moves to slash record public deficits, despite opposition from the United States which is saddled with a $1.3tn debt.
Emerging economies such as Argentina and Brazil had worried that budget cuts in rich countries would hurt their export-dependent economies.
"If the cuts take place in advanced countries it is worse," said Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega.
"Because instead of stimulating growth they pay more attention to fiscal adjustments, and if they are exporters they will be reforming at our cost".
Outside the summit venue in downtown Toronto, police and protesters clashed for a second day on Sunday.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that police fired rubber bullets at one point to disperse a crowd of about 150 protesters.
On the margins of a major march through Toronto on Saturday, some black-clad and hooded protesters smashed shop windows and set alight at least two police cars.
Police arrested more than 500 people over the weekend.
