G7 finance ministers meet in India to discuss helping developing countries

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of Seven nations meet in India on Sunday to discuss debt relief for developing countries, banking reforms and taxation for multinational corporations as well as Ukraine, ahead of a meeting of the Group of 20 major economies.

One of the main points of the discussions, which will take place with the participation of United States Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, is the support that will be provided to major development banks such as the World Bank, in order to better direct their assistance to the enormous challenge of global warming.

"Since more than half of low-income countries face or may become deeply indebted, collective action is necessary to help them (...) recover," the US Treasury Department said in a statement ahead of the meeting in Gandhinagar, western India.

After the G7 consultations, a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors of the G20 countries will be held on Monday and Tuesday in this new Indian city, which was established in the 1960s and named after independence hero Gandhi.

The new president of the World Bank,  Ajay Banga, expressed this week his concern about the "deep mistrust" that separates the countries of the North and the South, "at a time when we must come together" to address the "interconnected" challenges from fighting global poverty to the "existential" climate crisis. and an economic recovery after the pandemic that was jeopardized by inflation and the war in Ukraine.

"The frustration felt by the countries of the south is understandable. In many respects, these countries are paying the price for the prosperity of other countries," he added in an article published on the Internet, noting that these countries are "worried about the redirection of the means that were promised to them, to the reconstruction of Ukraine."

"They feel their aspirations are limited because energy rules are not universally applied, and they worry that a prosperous generation will fall into poverty," Banga said.

The G7 countries (the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Canada) are determined to support Ukraine for as long as necessary to fend off a Russian invasion.

Discussions about Kyiv's support for the G20 host country this year could be confusing as India has not expressed its condemnation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine so far.

The G20 summit in Gandhinagar will be an opportunity for discussions with the aim of reaching an international agreement on taxing multinational companies after about 140 countries under the auspices of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development approved this week the first project in this direction, which still faces obstacles.

 

AFP