'Pace of reform' crucial to growth, Lou tells meeting

Structural reform is the recipe for mending faltering global growth and receding productivity gain, officials at a G20 meeting said on Friday. But the sequencing of reform measures also matters to prevent unintended negative effects, they said.

"Whether the world can deliver strong, inclusive and sustainable growth really depends on the pace of structural reform," Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said. "The overall reform of the G20 has lagged behind expectations in recent years, so it is critical to strengthen the G20 reform agenda."

Lou's remarks are seen as a nuanced criticism that seven years after the global financial crisis, governments around the world still have been relying mainly on monetary easing to stimulate the economy at the expense of structural reform.