The meeting of finance ministers and heads of central banks will last two days and is taking place in Bali
G20 finance ministers are meeting in Indonesia today to discuss the impact on the global economy of the war in Ukraine and ways to respond to the food and energy crisis, the consequences of which could be “catastrophic”.
“The world is watching us,” said Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Indonesia’s finance minister, urging participants to adopt an attitude of “cooperation.”
“The price of failure to agree is higher than we can afford,” he warned. “The humanitarian impact for many low-income countries will be devastating.”
The meeting of finance ministers and central bank chiefs will last two days and is being held in Bali, a week after the G20 foreign ministers meeting, which sent a strong message to Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Initially, the discussions were planned to be about how best to return to growth after the pandemic, but the effects of the war in Ukraine, with the energy and food crisis, ended up at the top of the agenda.
New confrontation
The meeting is expected to be the occasion for a new confrontation between the West, which blames the current economic problems on Moscow, and developing countries that oppose the imposition of sanctions on Russia, led by China.
Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is originally from Ukraine, has accused the Russian delegation of committing “war crimes” for backing the invasion of Ukraine, a Canadian official said.
“It is not only the generals who commit crimes, but also the technocrats of the economy who make war possible and allow it to continue,” he explained.
The Russian Minister of Finance, Anton Siluanov will participate online in the session, while his Ukrainian counterpart, Sergey Marchenko he has also been invited to speak via video link.
Yesterday, Thursday, the US Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen had estimated that “the biggest challenge” to the world economy comes from the war in Ukraine, stressing that “representatives of the Putin regime should have no place in this forum».
The Italian Minister of Economy, Daniel Franco he underlined that the G20 “must play a key role in order to prevent food insecurity from turning into a humanitarian crisis”.
As there is no agreement between the countries on the causes of the economic problems and on the responsibility of Russia, the issuance of a joint communiqué remains uncertain.
Indonesia, the country hosting the G20 this year, wanted to remain neutral and did not bow to Western pressure to exclude Russia from the summit.
However, there are quite a few absentees, as many countries sent lower-ranking delegations.
In addition, the president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, will participate via video link, as will the finance ministers of China and Brazil, while the president of the World Bank, David Malpass, will be absent.
RES-EMP
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