ID :
57501
Sun, 04/26/2009 - 06:41
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/57501
The shortlink copeid
G-7 says growth to recover later in year but risks remain+
WASHINGTON, April 25 Kyodo - Finance chiefs from the Group of Seven industrial powers agreed Friday that they will continue to take every step possible to restore growth and avert a recurrence of a crisis of the type that the world is now experiencing, while
counting on the economy to pick up later this year.
Finance ministers and central bankers from the G-7, meeting in Washington,
struck a somewhat optimistic note for the future for the first time since last
September, when the financial crisis started to take its heavy toll on the
world economy.
But they did not forget to warn that the global economy is still filled with
downside risks.
''Recent data suggest that the pace of decline in our economies has slowed and
some signs of stabilization are emerging,'' their joint statement said.
''Economic activity should begin to recover later this year amid a continued
weak outlook, and downside risks persist.''
After the one-day meeting, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner cautioned
policymakers around the world against complacency.
''It's too early to conclude that we are beginning to emerge from this
remarkably challenging set of pressures,'' Geithner, hosting a ministerial
meeting for the first time, said at a news conference.
The finance chiefs underscored the importance of nailing down commitments made
in London by leaders of the Group of 20 in early April.
''As our leaders underscored in London, we are committed to act together to
restore jobs and growth and to prevent a crisis of this magnitude from
occurring again,'' said the communique released by the chiefs from Britain,
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
''We will take whatever actions are necessary to accelerate the return to trend
growth, while preserving long term fiscal sustainability,'' it said.
These actions, they said, include restoring lending, offering liquidity help,
injecting capital into struggling financial institutions, protecting savings
and deposits, and dealing with impaired assets.
The G-7 assessed the global economic outlook, market developments and the
actions taken by them so far, as well as discussing regulatory reform, to
counter the crisis at a time when some positive signs in capital markets have
also been noticed.
''The worst may be over. That's my understanding'' of what the statement
''indirectly expressed'' about the current state of the world economy, Japanese
Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said at a news conference.
Still, the International Monetary Fund's latest economic outlook report,
released earlier this week, said the world economy is projected to contract 1.3
percent this year, against the previous estimate in January of 0.5 percent
growth, which was already the worst pace since World War II.
The G-7 statement welcomed the progress being made to expand the role of the
IMF in the global economy, such as the issue of tripling its leading resources
to $750 billion, one of the central achievements of the London summit.
Geithner explained the current economic situation of the world's largest
economy, but the finance chiefs did not have enough time to go into details,
according to Yosano, who attended the meeting with Bank of Japan Governor
Masaaki Shirakawa.
Yosano provided information on Japan's record 15.4 trillion yen fiscal spending
to show its renewed determination to boost growth.
Japan's latest fiscal spending, equivalent to about 3 percent of its gross
domestic product, was unveiled April 10.
The IMF has called for the need to increase each country's fiscal spending to
at least 2 percent of GDP to fight the spreading impact of the economic
downturn.
The Japanese government is planning to submit an extra budget to the Diet on
Monday, after Yosano flies back to Tokyo from Washington, to finance its
stimulus package, which has a strong emphasis on job creation, assistance for
cash-strapped firms and promotion of eco-friendly products.
The package comes on top of stimulus measures already endorsed by parliament
since last October, with fiscal spending of about 12 trillion yen.
Japan, though struggling with the heaviest debt burden among the industrialized
countries, has joined a campaign of advocating more fiscal stimulus, while some
European countries such as Germany and France have become reluctant to spend
further, instead saying that strengthening financial regulations is more
important.
After the G-7 meeting, finance chiefs from the G-20 held a meeting to follow up
on the April 2 summit.
The G-20 economies, including the G-7 and emerging heavyweights such as Brazil,
China, India and Russia, mainly exchanged views on how to carry their
discussions over to the next G-20 leaders meeting, which is expected to be in
September in New York, according to Japanese officials.
The group, representing about 85 percent of global output, also tried to
establish priorities as the commitments made in London are already so diverse.
But conference sources said they failed to achieve any substantive outcome this
time, partly because they only had about two hours for the discussion.
There was no joint statement from the G-20 as widely expected.
==Kyodo
counting on the economy to pick up later this year.
Finance ministers and central bankers from the G-7, meeting in Washington,
struck a somewhat optimistic note for the future for the first time since last
September, when the financial crisis started to take its heavy toll on the
world economy.
But they did not forget to warn that the global economy is still filled with
downside risks.
''Recent data suggest that the pace of decline in our economies has slowed and
some signs of stabilization are emerging,'' their joint statement said.
''Economic activity should begin to recover later this year amid a continued
weak outlook, and downside risks persist.''
After the one-day meeting, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner cautioned
policymakers around the world against complacency.
''It's too early to conclude that we are beginning to emerge from this
remarkably challenging set of pressures,'' Geithner, hosting a ministerial
meeting for the first time, said at a news conference.
The finance chiefs underscored the importance of nailing down commitments made
in London by leaders of the Group of 20 in early April.
''As our leaders underscored in London, we are committed to act together to
restore jobs and growth and to prevent a crisis of this magnitude from
occurring again,'' said the communique released by the chiefs from Britain,
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
''We will take whatever actions are necessary to accelerate the return to trend
growth, while preserving long term fiscal sustainability,'' it said.
These actions, they said, include restoring lending, offering liquidity help,
injecting capital into struggling financial institutions, protecting savings
and deposits, and dealing with impaired assets.
The G-7 assessed the global economic outlook, market developments and the
actions taken by them so far, as well as discussing regulatory reform, to
counter the crisis at a time when some positive signs in capital markets have
also been noticed.
''The worst may be over. That's my understanding'' of what the statement
''indirectly expressed'' about the current state of the world economy, Japanese
Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said at a news conference.
Still, the International Monetary Fund's latest economic outlook report,
released earlier this week, said the world economy is projected to contract 1.3
percent this year, against the previous estimate in January of 0.5 percent
growth, which was already the worst pace since World War II.
The G-7 statement welcomed the progress being made to expand the role of the
IMF in the global economy, such as the issue of tripling its leading resources
to $750 billion, one of the central achievements of the London summit.
Geithner explained the current economic situation of the world's largest
economy, but the finance chiefs did not have enough time to go into details,
according to Yosano, who attended the meeting with Bank of Japan Governor
Masaaki Shirakawa.
Yosano provided information on Japan's record 15.4 trillion yen fiscal spending
to show its renewed determination to boost growth.
Japan's latest fiscal spending, equivalent to about 3 percent of its gross
domestic product, was unveiled April 10.
The IMF has called for the need to increase each country's fiscal spending to
at least 2 percent of GDP to fight the spreading impact of the economic
downturn.
The Japanese government is planning to submit an extra budget to the Diet on
Monday, after Yosano flies back to Tokyo from Washington, to finance its
stimulus package, which has a strong emphasis on job creation, assistance for
cash-strapped firms and promotion of eco-friendly products.
The package comes on top of stimulus measures already endorsed by parliament
since last October, with fiscal spending of about 12 trillion yen.
Japan, though struggling with the heaviest debt burden among the industrialized
countries, has joined a campaign of advocating more fiscal stimulus, while some
European countries such as Germany and France have become reluctant to spend
further, instead saying that strengthening financial regulations is more
important.
After the G-7 meeting, finance chiefs from the G-20 held a meeting to follow up
on the April 2 summit.
The G-20 economies, including the G-7 and emerging heavyweights such as Brazil,
China, India and Russia, mainly exchanged views on how to carry their
discussions over to the next G-20 leaders meeting, which is expected to be in
September in New York, according to Japanese officials.
The group, representing about 85 percent of global output, also tried to
establish priorities as the commitments made in London are already so diverse.
But conference sources said they failed to achieve any substantive outcome this
time, partly because they only had about two hours for the discussion.
There was no joint statement from the G-20 as widely expected.
==Kyodo
