G20 finance, bank chiefs to address global issues

GANDHINAGAR, India — G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs opened talks on Monday discussing debt restructuring deals, multilateral bank reform and finance to tackle climate change, aiming to bolster a sagging global economy.

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, chair and host of the gathering in Gandhinagar of Gujarat, the state where India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi was born, began by telling finance leaders of "the responsibility we have ...to steer the global economy toward strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth".

Key on the two-day agenda will be "facilitating consensus to intractable issues associated with rising indebtedness", Sitharaman said earlier on Monday.

The G20 includes the rich G7 nations as well as Russia, China, Brazil, Australia and Saudi Arabia, among other countries. G20 nations account for more than 80 percent of the world's GDP.

The major economies will also discuss multilateral development banks' reform, cryptocurrency regulations, and making access to financing to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change easier, Agence France-Presse reported.

"In the Global North, climate change means emission reductions," World Bank chief Ajay Banga said in an op-ed ahead of the meeting.

"But in the Global South, it is a matter of survival, because hurricanes are stronger, heat-resistant seeds are in short supply, drought is destroying farms and towns, and floods are washing away decades of progress. The Global South's frustration is understandable," Banga said.

The International Monetary Fund said that finding common efforts to tackle the weak global economy will be crucial.

Joint action

"The world will be looking for joint action to address rising economic fragmentation, slowing growth, and high inflation," the IMF said in a statement last week.

A newly agreed first step on a fairer distribution of tax revenues from multinational companies reached by 138 countries last week is also set to be delivered.

Multinationals, especially tech companies, are currently able to shift profits easily to countries with low tax rates even though they carry out only a small part of their activities there.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which hosted talks to reach a first draft of a multilateral convention, said it permits moving forward with a "historic" reform of the international tax system.

But on Sunday, Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said there was "no discussion" about exchange rates at a meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bank chiefs.

The G7 groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, and the officials met on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in India.

Agencies Via Xinhua