SYDNEY, Feb 22: G20 ministers today began their two-day deliberations to work out a “real and tangible framework” to push global growth amid clamour for a more transparent tapering programme by the US Fed Reserve with a view to reducing volatility in the global financial markets.
Australia, which is the chair of the G20, wants the ministers to agree to a tangible plan to achieve collective global goal of promoting growth and lifting economies which are still reeling under the impact of slowdown.
Talking to reporters ahead of the G20 ministerial meeting, Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey hoped that the ministers would “lay down a real and tangible framework for increasing growth of the global economy in the next five years”.
The finance ministers and the central bank governors of G20 nations, which represent 85 per cent of the global economy, should come out with “real outcomes” to enhance cooperation to deal with volatility in global financial markets, he stressed.
The contentious issue, however, is the tapering or withdrawal of monetary stimulus by the US Federal Reserve as it is having major implications on the markets in developed and emerging economies.
Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram who reached here today will also pitch for greater transparency in the US Fed’s tapering operations, expeditious reforms of IMF and automatic sharing of tax information.
Hockey endorsed India’s demand for a “forward guidance” on tapering by the US Federal Reserve when he made a case for a “no surprises policy” as far as monetary activities were concerned. “That is what the central bank governors are waiting for,” he added.
The Fed first talked about tapering in May 2013, sending markets the world over into turmoil and the Indian rupee to a record low. Though the situation has improved much since then, the fears remain. (AGENCIES)
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