World Leaders Agree on Timetable for Cutting Deficits

By SEWELL CHAN and JACKIE CALMES

TORONTO — Leaders of the world’s biggest economies agreed on Sunday on a timetable for cutting their deficits and halting the growth of their public debt, despite the Obama administration’s concern that reducing spending too quickly might set back the fragile global recovery.

The Group of 20 countries ended a two-day summit meeting here by endorsing a goal of cutting government deficits in half by 2013 and stabilizing the ratio of public debt to gross domestic product by 2016. Canada’s prime minister, Stephen Harper, had proposed the targets and received the backing of several European leaders.

But to assuage objections from the United States, Japan, India and some other G-20 countries, the timetable was couched as an expectation, rather than as a firm deadline, and a joint statement by the countries explicitly exempted Japan, which is heavily reliant on domestic borrowing, from the targets.