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659405
Fri, 05/12/2023 - 01:43
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http://m.oananews.org//node/659405
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G-7 Financial Chiefs Start 3-Day Talks in Niigata
Niigata, May 11 (Jiji Press)--Finance ministers and central bank chiefs of the Group of Seven major powers kicked off their three-day meeting in the north-central Japan city of Niigata on Thursday.
At a press conference before the start of the talks, Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki announced that Japan will deliver 1 billion dollars through the government-affiliated Japan Bank for International Cooperation in fresh aid to Ukraine and nearby countries supporting the Eastern European nation under Russian aggression.
The G-7 top financial officials, also including Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda, are expected to include plans to enhance support to Ukraine in their joint statement to be adopted on the final day.
"While confirming the results of financial assistance that has been provided to Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund's relevant support programs, we will discuss how to strengthen cooperation among development finance institutions and aid to such neighboring countries," Suzuki said.
By utilizing JBIC's funds, the government aims to help neighboring countries to accept more evacuees from Ukraine while encouraging Japanese companies to invest more in the battered country.
In April, the government revised the law on JBIC to allow it to guarantee international financial institutions' loans to Ukraine.
Also high on the agenda are sanctions against Russia and the current state of the global economy.
The seven major democracies of Japan, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and the United States plus the European Union have taken such punitive measures against Moscow as freezing assets, banning exports of semiconductors and other cutting-edge technologies and imposing price caps on Russian crude oil.
Suzuki said he wants to discuss with other Niigata meeting participants ways to sew up "loopholes" in the sanctions so the G-7 camp can make it more difficult for Russia to carry on the war.
As for the global economy, the ministers and central bankers will analyze the current conditions at a time when gloomy predictions are increasing.
The Chinese economy's recovery after the end of Beijing's "zero-COVID" policy "is not as powerful as expected," a former Japanese vice finance minister for international affairs pointed out.
Side effects of sudden policy shifts to tightening by major central banks except for the BOJ, such as a series of U.S. bank failures and rapidly increasing debt-servicing burdens on low- and middle-income countries, have also been casting a pall on the world economy, pundits noted.
