Leaders of Group of 20 nations plan to warn that “cascading crises” pose challenges to long-term economic growth while calling for coordinated macroeconomic policies, according to a person familiar with a draft of the final communique.
The group, which is meeting in India this weekend, plans to say that uncertainty on the economic outlook remains high and the balance of risks is tilted to the downside, the person said. They see global economic growth as uneven and below the long-term average, the person said, adding to the need for well-coordinated fiscal and monetary policies to support growth.
The leaders also plan to say G-20 central banks remain strongly committed to achieving price stability, the person said, adding that governments would prioritize targeted measures to help the poor while maintaining fiscal sustainability over the medium term. They will warn that the recent bank turmoil shows the need for policy makers to remain agile, the person said.
G-20 leaders are meeting as the world economy faces challenges from a possible US recession, China’s slowdown and elevated inflation eating into purchasing power across the globe.
Nearly all of the communique text has been agreed apart from a section dealing with geopolitics, primarily referencing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, people familiar with the discussions said.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak earlier singled out China for blocking efforts to achieve consensus, telling Bloomberg News on the plane to India that the talks in the run-up to the two-day summit had been “challenging.” Climate and Russia’s war were set to dominate the talks, he said.
China appears to have dropped its initial opposition to measures on climate as well as language on Ukraine and Russia, a key diplomatic ally of China, some of the people said.
“We would like to work for fruitful outcomes of the New Delhi Summit,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Friday at a regular press briefing in Beijing. “On climate change, the Chinese side hopes that all parties can take each others’ concerns into consideration and jointly work for solution of climate change.”
--With assistance from Alberto Nardelli.
(Updates with Sunak on China starting in sixth paragraph.)
