(BBC)President Obama hoped the agreement will "help us track and encourage balanced and sustainable growth"
The global financial system and world economy are set to dominate the agenda at a meeting of the G20 in South Korea.
But there are fears the summit in Seoul could descend into a row between the US and China about so-called "currency wars" and trade imbalances.
Ahead of the meeting US President Barack Obama urged leaders to work together for global economic recovery.
He also defended the US's policy, announced last week, of pumping $600bn into the economy to boost the recovery.
"In a prudent, stable way, we want to make sure that we are boosting growth rates at home as well as abroad," Mr Obama said.
"It is difficult to do that if we start seeing the huge imbalances redevelop that helped to contribute to the crisis that we just went through."
The US and South Korea also announced that they had failed to seal a free trade deal, in talks ahead of the main G20 meeting.
The pact was agreed three years ago, but has since stalled over US lawmakers concerns about access to South Korean markets for US beef and cars.
"We agreed that more time is needed to resolve detailed issues and asked trade ministers to reach a mutually acceptable deal as soon as possible," South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said after meeting the US president.
He also said the US remained open to negotiations with North Korea to end its nuclear programme as long as Pyongyang showed "seriousness of purpose".
