The International Monetary Fund has urged the world’s leading economies to join forces and take bold action in a bid to boost growth, highlighting concerns that global market turbulence is starting to hurt the real economy.

The fund’s clarion call for action came ahead of tomorrow’s gathering in Shanghai of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors from the world’s leading advanced and emerging economies. It also coincided with another day of turmoil in financial markets driven by a further fall in the oil price after Saudi Arabia damped hopes of a co-ordinated cut in crude production.

The IMF yesterday warned the G20 participants in a briefing note that global growth this year was already worse than expected as financial conditions tighten in advanced economies due to market ructions. It also pointed to the rising stress in emerging economies and the increasingly acute situation facing oil producers in the developing world.