Finance officials from the world's major economies are searching for the right mix of policies to bolster a still-weak global recovery nearly six years after the Great Recession while confronting a range of new threats from a soaring US dollar to a big drop in oil prices.
The financial officials from the Group of 20 nations were also expressing concerns about potential market instability once the Federal Reserve starts increasing a key interest rate which has been at a record low near zero since late 2008.
The discussions were being held among finance ministers and central bank presidents of the G-20, composed of traditional economic powers such as the United States, Japan and Germany and emerging countries such as China, India and Brazil.
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen were representing the United States at the meetings, which began with a dinner yesterday and were to conclude with a news conference today afternoon. Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan of Turkey will sum up the group's discussions. Turkey holds the rotating chairmanship of the G-20 this year.
The G-20 talks were coming in advance of the spring meetings of the 188-nation International Monetary Fund and its sister lending organization, the World Bank.
In addition to concerns about boosting global growth, the finance meetings were also addressing issues including a plea for more help in fighting the Ebola outbreak in the West African nations of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. The presidents of those three nations were scheduled to meet Friday with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The finance meetings were taking place at a time when much of the global economy remains stuck in a prolonged period of sluggish growth following the 2008 financial crisis and a recession that was the worst in seven decades.
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told reporters yesterday: "The good news is that the global recovery continues. The not-so-good news is that growth remains moderate and uneven."
She said the goal of this week's talks was to produce a revamped action plan that will "prevent this new mediocre from becoming the new reality."
The IMF's latest economic forecast predicted only modest overall growth and downgraded the prospects for some nations including the United States, forecasting US growth of just 3.1 per cent this year, a half-point lower than its January estimate. The reason: IMF economists believe the sharp rise in the value of the dollar will hurt American companies trying to exporAZt goods overseas.
