US President George W. Bush called for reforms to avert future meltdowns but sternly warned against seeing government action as a "cure-all."

Bush was speaking hours before he was to host the G-20 summit in Washington that's scheduled to discuss solutions to the financial crisis.

"We must recognise that government intervention is not a cure-all.History has shown that the greater threat to economic prosperity, is not too little government involvement in the market, it is too much government involvement in the market."

Leaders from 20 major industrial and emerging economies are attending the summit to be convened on Saturday local time.