United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for drastic measures to protect developing countries against the global financial crisis.

He said central banks and the IMF might have to set up major credit lines to help poorer nations to meet emergencies.

Meanwhile Asian and EU leaders called for the IMF to play a leading role in stabilizing the world financial system.

Meeting in Beijing for the second day of a summit of forty three nations, the leaders said they were moving towards consensus ahead of next month's meeting of the 20 largest economies in Washington.