ECB policymaker Axel Weber warned global central bankers on Friday that economic imbalances could worsen faster than first expected to pre-crisis levels and urged the G20 to push ahead with tackling them.
China is going ahead with a G20 seminar on March 31 to develop ideas on reshaping the global monetary system, but has moved it to the city of Nanjing, near Shanghai, a French government source said on Friday.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Saturday pointed to the problems China's tightly controlled currency poses for other developing economies and said Beijing still had further to go to let its currency rise.
The G20 Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Communiqué, released on February 19 from France, doesn’t contain the word inflation. Not even once.
Full text of G20 Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Communiqué, from the G20 France 2011 website.
U.S. stocks rose Friday, marking the third straight week of market gains, as investors warily watch continuing unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, along with the start of a two-day meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers in Paris.
Group of 20 negotiators have failed to reach agreement on a list of indicators by which to measure imbalances in the global economy and will leave it up to their finance ministers to try and seal a deal on Saturday, a G20 source said.
Nicholas Sarkozy is urging G20 finance ministers gathering in Paris to offer their support for the transitional governments in Egypt and Tunisia as they gradually move toward democracy.
A draft statement by Group of 20 finance ministers lists four indicators including the current account for measuring global imbalances, Russia's deputy finance minister said on Friday.
China rejected plans to use real exchange rates and currency reserves to measures global economic imbalances, casting doubt on the ability of Group of 20 major economic powers to reach agreement at a meeting on Friday.
It's too early to be sure, but signs that China's current account surplus will keep shrinking as a share of national output could draw some of the venom from the debate on global economic imbalances preoccupying the G20.
China's central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said on Thursday that Beijing will decide the pace of the appreciation of the yuan on its own and would not take into account pressure from other countries.
Reform of the international monetary system is needed to prevent foreign assets flooding to one particular currency, the head of the People's Bank of China said on Friday.
The consensus is that the upcoming G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bankers will address the issue of food inflation, the hot button issue of the day.
France and Italy have fallen badly behind on pledges to boost their development aid and should follow the example of Britain, which has stuck to pledges despite austerity measures, Bob Geldof said on Tuesday.
The Group of 20 wealthy and emerging nations is likely to encourage emerging countries to let their currencies float more freely when they meet this week, in a repeat of language used last year, a G20 official said on Tuesday.
The United States hopes the Group of 20 meeting in Paris this weekend will begin coming to grips with how to handle rapid flows of capital that stoke inflation and cause currency rate disruptions, a Treasury official said on Tuesday.
Wide differences between rich and poor countries may frustrate France's hope of taking a bold step toward stabilizing the global economy at a Group of 20 finance ministers meeting this week.
Global food prices have reached dangerous levels and have pushed an additional 44-million more people in the developing nations into poverty since last June.
Wide differences between rich and developing countries may frustrate France's hope of taking a bold step toward stabilizing the global economy at a Group of 20 finance ministers meeting this week.
France played down hopes on Monday of clinching a deal at a meeting of G20 finance ministers this week that would push forward efforts to deal with global economic imbalances, although it said that remained its goal.
China's trade surplus fell to its lowest in nine months in January after imports surged, supporting the government's case ahead of a G20 meeting that it is doing enough to spur domestic demand without speeding up currency appreciation.
