ID :
175818
Sat, 04/16/2011 - 19:18
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https://oananews.org//node/175818
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G-20 expresses solidarity with crisis-hit Japan
WASHINGTON, April 16 Kyodo - The Group of 20 financial chiefs expressed their solidarity on Friday with the Japanese people over the devastating March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami, pledging to offer any support for the crisis-hit country.
But with the disaster at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi atomic power complex continuing the G-20 officials warned that Japan's economic downturn is a downside risk to the global economy, underscoring their concern over the aftermath of the nation's worst postwar crisis.
''We expressed our solidarity with the Japanese people after the tragic events, our readiness to provide any needed cooperation, and our confidence in the resilience of the Japanese economy and financial sector,'' the G-20 countries said in a joint statement released after their two-day meeting in Washington.
''The whole group expressed solidarity with Japan,'' French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said at a press conference as chair of the gathering, adding ''We stand ready for any help that is needed'' for Japan.
Even so, Japan's economy is now under strong downward pressure as the disasters have crippled the nation's manufacturing and caused nationwide supply disruptions, which are feared to affect its major trading partners including the United States and China.
Radiation leaks from the Fukushima Daiichi plant have contaminated soil and sea, dealing a heavy blow to Japan's fishery and agricultural industries with false and harmful rumors spreading worldwide.
''The global recovery is broadening and becoming more self-sustained,'' but ''Events in some Middle-East-North African countries and in Japan have increased economic uncertainty and tensions in energy prices,'' the statement said.
Such words came after Japan raised the severity level of the crisis at the plant last Tuesday to 7, the maximum on an international scale, up from 5, and matching that of the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe.
Japan's Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda offered information to other G-20 nations on the crisis at the power station to ease their anxiety that the nuclear crisis could erode the country's economy, in turn weighing on the global economic recovery.
He also made efforts to prevent unsubstantiated rumors about radioactive contamination from marring Japan's trade with its global counterparts.
Noda reiterated at a press conference on Friday he ''did not hear any objections or differences of opinions'' from G-20 officials about his explanations on the disaster, but it is uncertain whether he won their understanding on the matter.
Amid growing expectations the country will issue massive new government bonds to fund measures to reconstruct quake-hit northeastern Japan and tackle the nuclear crisis, Noda also emphasized his policy of maintaining the country's fiscal discipline at the G-20 gathering.
Barring a range of problems stemming from the crisis at the Fukushima power plant, the government has estimated that the damage from the quake and tsunami that left around 28,000 people dead or missing could amount to 16 trillion to 25 trillion yen.
Noda said the government will draw up its fiscal consolidation plan by mid-year in mapping out reconstruction measures, as Japan's public debt level is approaching 200 percent of its gross domestic product, the highest among industrialized countries.
''We have to show our policy that Japan will get on a path of fiscal soundness in the medium term,'' he said.
The government has already promised not to issue any new bonds to craft the first in a series of extra budgets for fiscal 2011 to implement reconstruction steps.
Meanwhile, Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa, who attended the G-20 meeting with Noda, said the central bank ''will strongly support Japan's financial markets and real economy by providing ample funds and by strengthening monetary easing.''
Representing about 80 percent of the world's GDP, the G-20 groups together Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
At the gathering in Washington, the G-20 economies also agreed on a mechanism under which countries that pose potential risks to the global economy will be singled out using a set of indicators as well as other factors in an effort to prevent a future crisis by reducing global economic imbalances.
Following the agreement, seven countries among the G-20 members are to be scrutinized further as they appear to cause global imbalances, which have been blamed for exacerbating the financial turmoil, Lagarde said at a press conference after the meeting.
Japan is expected to be included in the countries that should be subject to the scrutiny, the nation's officials said, adding it is ''natural'' for the G-20 nations to conduct mutual assessment of large economies such as the United States and China.
The G-20 officials also continued to discuss issues such as the international monetary system and the upturn in global commodity prices.
But with the disaster at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi atomic power complex continuing the G-20 officials warned that Japan's economic downturn is a downside risk to the global economy, underscoring their concern over the aftermath of the nation's worst postwar crisis.
''We expressed our solidarity with the Japanese people after the tragic events, our readiness to provide any needed cooperation, and our confidence in the resilience of the Japanese economy and financial sector,'' the G-20 countries said in a joint statement released after their two-day meeting in Washington.
''The whole group expressed solidarity with Japan,'' French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said at a press conference as chair of the gathering, adding ''We stand ready for any help that is needed'' for Japan.
Even so, Japan's economy is now under strong downward pressure as the disasters have crippled the nation's manufacturing and caused nationwide supply disruptions, which are feared to affect its major trading partners including the United States and China.
Radiation leaks from the Fukushima Daiichi plant have contaminated soil and sea, dealing a heavy blow to Japan's fishery and agricultural industries with false and harmful rumors spreading worldwide.
''The global recovery is broadening and becoming more self-sustained,'' but ''Events in some Middle-East-North African countries and in Japan have increased economic uncertainty and tensions in energy prices,'' the statement said.
Such words came after Japan raised the severity level of the crisis at the plant last Tuesday to 7, the maximum on an international scale, up from 5, and matching that of the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe.
Japan's Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda offered information to other G-20 nations on the crisis at the power station to ease their anxiety that the nuclear crisis could erode the country's economy, in turn weighing on the global economic recovery.
He also made efforts to prevent unsubstantiated rumors about radioactive contamination from marring Japan's trade with its global counterparts.
Noda reiterated at a press conference on Friday he ''did not hear any objections or differences of opinions'' from G-20 officials about his explanations on the disaster, but it is uncertain whether he won their understanding on the matter.
Amid growing expectations the country will issue massive new government bonds to fund measures to reconstruct quake-hit northeastern Japan and tackle the nuclear crisis, Noda also emphasized his policy of maintaining the country's fiscal discipline at the G-20 gathering.
Barring a range of problems stemming from the crisis at the Fukushima power plant, the government has estimated that the damage from the quake and tsunami that left around 28,000 people dead or missing could amount to 16 trillion to 25 trillion yen.
Noda said the government will draw up its fiscal consolidation plan by mid-year in mapping out reconstruction measures, as Japan's public debt level is approaching 200 percent of its gross domestic product, the highest among industrialized countries.
''We have to show our policy that Japan will get on a path of fiscal soundness in the medium term,'' he said.
The government has already promised not to issue any new bonds to craft the first in a series of extra budgets for fiscal 2011 to implement reconstruction steps.
Meanwhile, Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa, who attended the G-20 meeting with Noda, said the central bank ''will strongly support Japan's financial markets and real economy by providing ample funds and by strengthening monetary easing.''
Representing about 80 percent of the world's GDP, the G-20 groups together Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
At the gathering in Washington, the G-20 economies also agreed on a mechanism under which countries that pose potential risks to the global economy will be singled out using a set of indicators as well as other factors in an effort to prevent a future crisis by reducing global economic imbalances.
Following the agreement, seven countries among the G-20 members are to be scrutinized further as they appear to cause global imbalances, which have been blamed for exacerbating the financial turmoil, Lagarde said at a press conference after the meeting.
Japan is expected to be included in the countries that should be subject to the scrutiny, the nation's officials said, adding it is ''natural'' for the G-20 nations to conduct mutual assessment of large economies such as the United States and China.
The G-20 officials also continued to discuss issues such as the international monetary system and the upturn in global commodity prices.
