Finance officials from the world's 20 emerging and wealthy nations have pledged to launch a coordinated response to bolster the struggling global economy.

The finance ministers and central bankers issued a statement late Thursday in Washington after global stock markets plunged earlier in the day, amid new worries the world economy is teetering towards another recession.

The G20 officials say they will take “all necessary actions” to preserve the stability of banking systems, by ensuring they are “adequately capitalized and have sufficient access to funding.”

The statement failed to prevent a second straight day of losses across Asian markets Friday, but European markets reacted positively, gaining one percent at the start of the day's trading session.

Global markets sustained major losses this week after the U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve, warned late Wednesday that it sees “significant downside risks” to the already struggling U.S. economy, and that a complete recovery is years away.

The warning was included in an announcement that it planned to sell $400 billion of short-term bonds and buy long-term Treasury notes in an effort to keep interest rates low and boost economic growth.

Analysts said that the gloomy forecast for the U.S. economy, coupled with worries that Greece may eventually default on its international bailout loans, could lead to a new global downturn or at best continued sluggish growth.

Prices for commodities have also fallen, with oil sliding nearly 5 percent Thursday on worries there would be less demand with a global economic downturn. Even the price of gold, often viewed as a haven for investors, dropped, but U.S. bonds were still viewed favorably as a protected investment.