Weekend may be a "turning point" for G20: Merrill Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - This weekend may signal a turning point for emerging market economies as financial leaders from the world's richest nations gather in Washington to discuss ways to contain the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, Merrill Lynch economists said on Friday.

"Emerging markets are now the world's creditors. They have accumulated trillions of dollars in savings in the past couple of years for a rainy day, and guess what, the rainy day is here," Alex Patelis, chief global economist for Merrill Lynch, said at a news briefing in Washington.

A summit of the G20 emerging market and industrialized nations will take place in Washington on Saturday following a meeting of Group of Seven wealthy nations on Friday.

Leaders from Brazil, Russia, India and China, among others are not only expected to pressure G7 economies to act vigorously to maintain liquidity in global credit markets, but may be in position to provide liquidity, Merrill Lynch said.

"It's a complete role reversal," Patelis said.

The G7 nations are the United States, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Britain and Japan.

Patelis added that despite a recent sell off in emerging market currencies and stock markets, many of those economies are not highly leveraged and don't have the same reliance on short-term funding that the United States and Europe have.

In addition, emerging market economies led by the BRIC group -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- may have accumulated about $9 trillion in foreign reserves, cash and other assets, he said.

"They have these savings stashed away," Patelis said. "And now the world's need that money."