The meeting of finance ministers and central bank presidents of the G20 in Indonesia ended this Saturday without a joint statement, due to the lack of consensus in the discussions, dominated by the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
The two-day meeting on the island of Bali highlighted the differences between Western leaders, who denounced the impact of the war in Ukraine on inflation and food and energy crisisand Russia, which blamed the deterioration of the world economy on Western sanctions.
The US treasury secretary, Janet Yellenthe Australian Minister of Finance, Jim Chalmerand the Canadian Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freelandblamed Moscow for the enormous impact of the war on the world economy.
Instead of the traditional joint statement, Indonesia will issue a statement, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati explained in her closing speech.
She said that there was consensus on most of the document, but that two paragraphs would focus on members’ differences on the impact of the war and how to respond.
I think this is the best result.”
Progress in fiscal rules
Opening the second day of the meeting on Saturday, Indonesian Central Bank President Perry Warjiyo called on participants to redouble efforts for coordinated economic policies as inflation accelerates and growth risks They multiply.
On Friday, “many of us … stressed the urgent need to address the risk of rising commodity prices leading to persistent inflation” and to tackle food insecurity, he said.
The meeting took place after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its global growth forecast.
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and his Ukrainian counterpart Sergei Marchenko attended the meeting via videoconference.
Russian Deputy Economy Minister Timur Maksimov attended the talks in person a week after his country’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov walked out of a G20 meeting over Western criticism of the invasion.
Maksimov stayed in the room during the criticism from Westerners, according to a source present. Marchenko called for “more severe targeted sanctions” against Moscow.
For analysts, the lack of agreement on a joint statement will hinder coordinated efforts to tackle inflation and food shortages caused by the invasion of Ukraine.
The meeting is a prelude to the summit to be held by the G20 leaders on the Indonesian island in November, which was to focus on economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The ministers also discussed sustainable finance, cryptocurrencies and international taxation on Saturday.
The Indonesian finance minister said “progress” has been made on changes to international tax rules, which will set a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15% by 2024.
