Eurozone countries have just six weeks to devise a long-promised solution to the debt crisis, Chancellor George Osborne has warned.
Mr Osborne said a meeting of the G20 nations in France in November remained the deadline for action to tackle the crippling crisis.
Speaking after meeting with fellow finance ministers from the group of developed and developing nations, he said there was a recognition of the need for urgency.
Labour leader Ed Miliband, though, renewed his calls for an earlier emergency meeting to agree "a plan for growth" to steer the global economy back towards recovery.
Speaking in Washington, Mr Osborne said: "There is now a recognition that they are at the epicentre of the global debt crisis and that they have got weeks, not months, to sort it out.
"All the world leaders are going to be gathering in France in early November. That will be the moment where we need to see the comprehensive solution that we have been promised for a while," he said.
Turmoil continued on markets across the globe as world leaders failed to ease global recession fears sparked by a gloomy outlook from America's central bank, weak Chinese and eurozone economic data and the enduring sovereign debt crisis.
Prime Minister David Cameron used a speech in Canada to urge the eurozone to deal with its debt and the US to put its public finances back on a sustainable path.
And he put himself at the head of a six-nation bloc of G20 leaders signing a letter calling for "decisive action to support growth, confidence, and credibility".
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But Mr Miliband accused Mr Cameron of "lecturing" foreign leaders, when he had no more to offer them than the same austerity package being imposed in the UK. Instead, he called for co-ordinated action by the G20 - whose members represent 85% of the global economy - to restore growth.
