By Jan Strupczewski and Krista Hughes
PRAGUE, April 3 (Reuters) - The unity behind G20 agreements on more IMF funding and market regulation has boosted global confidence, but swift implementation of the decisions is now key to make it last, top EU economic officials urged on Friday.
World leaders clinched a $1.1 trillion deal to combat the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and said financial rules would be tightened to stop it happening again -- a more ambitious outcome than initially expected.
"The G20 reflects a consensus which seems to be very strong between the industrialised and emerging countries," European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said.
"I think it's a very important element of confidence," he told a news conference after meeting euro zone finance ministers.
"Now the decisions have to be implemented as swiftly as possible, speed is of the essence, as is flawless implementation, but we have everything we need to restore confidence," Trichet said.
He reiterated the bank might cut its refinancing rate in a "measured" way further at its May meeting from the current 1.25 percent, leave the deposit rate unchanged and consider unconventional ways of policy easing.
The ECB cut interest rates by only 25 basis points to 1.25 percent on Thursday, surprising markets which had expected a 50 basis point cut amid deepening economic gloom.
G20 leaders agreed on Thursday to triple the IMF's resources to $750 billion and to a package worth $250 billion over two years to support global trade flows, which are forecast to fall 9 percent this year.
The leaders of the world's richest and biggest economies, which account for more than 80 percent of world trade, also agreed to tighten rules on tax havens, hedge funds and credit rating agencies.
They said the measures would raise world output by 4 percent by the end of 2010, although they were hazy on the amount of stimulus spending to date, with estimates ranging between $2 trillion and $5 trillion.
MARKETS GET CONFIDENCE BOOST
All this convinced investors to keep a risk-taking rally alive on Friday, lifting Asian stocks a fourth day.
"We believe the decisions that have been taken are ambitious and far reaching and should help restore confidence," the chairman of euro zone finance ministers Jean-Claude Juncker told a news conference, calling the G20 decisions "historic".
ECB Governing Board member Vitor Constancio said the G20 decisions provided global financial institutions with the tools to fight the crisis.
"It builds confidence and if the needs will really emerge then the resources are there to cope with the situation," he said after the ECB and euro zone finance ministers meeting, which is called the Eurogroup.
They were later joined by the rest of the finance ministers and central bankers from the 27-nation bloc, who backed the Eurogroup's assessment of the G20 conclusions.
Austrian Finance Minister Josef Proell said the higher IMF funds were good news for the economies of central and eastern Europe, to which Austrian banks are heavily exposed, and which have been hit hard by the global economic crisis.
Latvia, Romania, Hungary and Ukraine and other countries have been forced to ask for IMF funds after global risk aversion and credit crunch made capital scarce, opening up the prospect of a balance of payments and banking crises.
"It is good for stabilising new economies in central and Eastern Europe," Proell said. "It's not only good for central and Eastern Europe, it's good for the whole European Union and maybe also other countries all over the world," he said.
Credit default swaps for Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland and Romania's narrowed by 27-37 basis points on Thursday and Romania's CDS hit their narrowest in five months on news of the IMF funds boost.
But Trichet stressed the extra IMF money had no particular target and that central and eastern European countries should not be lumped together as the situation of each was different.
"What has been decided, which is extremely important, is for the sake of the entire planet, not targetted to any particular continent or grouping of countires, but for the sake of the entire planet," Trichet said.
The EU ministers also backed deadlines for reining in ballooning budget deficits of France, Spain, Ireland and Greece proposed by the European Commission. They will turn to plans for EU regulatory and supervisory reform on Saturday.
(Additional reporting by Mike Winfery and Jason Hovet)
(Editing by Andy Bruce/Victoria Main)