G-20 must formulate responses to global challenges: Finance Minister Jaitley

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has called on G-20 nations to formulate responses to work on global challenges.

“It is important to understand the global spill-overs of domestic policy actions of individual member countries especially on matters related to trade and financial regulation,” he said at the G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting last week.

The G20 Framework Working Group discussed the IMF’s G-20 Report on ‘Strong, Sustainable, and Balanced Growth.

Meanwhile, addressing the G-20 press conference, Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said that two issues are of particular interest to G-20 nations.

“Global recovery has firmed up but growth rates are still modest,” he said, adding that it is important the nations use the recovery as an opportunity to succeed.

Germany has the G-20 Presidency for 2017.

Weidmann further said that there is additional impetus to the G-20’s digitisation agenda but the issue of cyber risk deserves great attention. “There has also been good progress to the BASEL III targets,” he added.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble said that in the field of international taxation, G-20 nations have maintained close cooperation, especially on Base erosion and Profit Shifting. “We have made substantial progress in tax transparency,” he said.

Argentina will have the G-20 Presidency in 2018 and it took the opportunity to outline key agenda issues for the next year.

“The theme of the future of work…how technological advancement challenge jobs and possible policy responses will be discussed,” said Nicolas Dujovne, Argentina Finance Minister.

Frederico Sturznegger, President of the Central Bank of Argentina said that infrastructure financing will be the second priority for G-20 nations in the coming year. “Investments in infrastructure can boost growth and productivity,” he said, adding that it is critical for development.

(The writer is in Washington D.C. as part of the IMF Journalism Fellowship 2017 to cover the Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank.)