Sitharaman calls for global policy coordination at G20
BENGALURU: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday pressed for international policy coordination and proactive collective efforts to protect economies amid a threat to growth and recovery prospects from geopolitical events.
Speaking at the G20 finance ministers’ and central bank governors’ meeting in Washington D.C., Sitharaman flagged economic challenges arising from prolonged inflation, supply chain disruption, volatility in energy markets and investor uncertainty for all countries.
Indonesia is the current president of the influential grouping that is made up of the world’s economic powerhouses.
“FM Sitharaman said that the G20 is well placed to catalyze international policy co-ordination to deal with macroeconomic consequences and called for proactive collective efforts towards protecting economies,” the ministry of finance tweeted.
The G20 meeting agenda included the global economic outlook and risks, international financial architecture, and global health.
Sitharaman’s statement comes in the context of rising global crude oil and commodity prices following the RussiaUkraine war, causing a sharp spike in inflationary pressures across the globe, including India, and impacting economic recovery. The response -- monetary tightening by central banks in advanced economies -- threatens to cause huge capital outflows from developing countries, in turn leading to currency depreciation and further inflationary expectations.
Sitharaman also met US secretary of commerce Gina Raimondo and discussed ways to strengthen economic cooperation in the bilateral and global contexts.
The International Monetary Fund in its World Economic Outlook report released on Tuesday cut India’s GDP growth forecast for this fiscal to 8.2% from 9% estimated earlier citing the impact of high global oil prices on domestic demand and private investment. It estimated India’s inflation to average 6.1% in 2022-23, higher than the Reserve Bank of India’s upper tolerance band of 6%. India’s retail inflation climbed to a 17-month high of 6.95% in March and wholesale inflation accelerated to a fourmonth high of 14.55% in the same month, remaining in double digits for about a year.