Under the shadow of swelling risks to the global economy, finance chiefs from the world’s wealthy nations presented a united front with more support for Ukraine, a plan for diversifying supply chains and a vow to fill gaps in financial regulation.
The Group of Seven’s ease in agreeing on a statement after three days of talks in Niigata, Japan, was in stark contrast with the discord seen at the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Bengaluru, India, less than three months earlier, which ended without the usual communiqué.
The difference: no China or Russia. While condemnation of “Russia’s War of Aggression” against Ukraine was front and center of the 14-page statement, China didn’t get a direct mention. Yet there were thinly veiled plans to counter its dominance of global supply chains and growing sway over the Global South.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen couldn’t escape the debt ceiling impasse. In an interview with Bloomberg Television, she said the federal government will have to renege on some payments if Congress doesn’t raise the debt limit.Aid for Ukraine through early 2024 was nudged up to $44 billion in a move that enabled the International Monetary Fund to approve $15.6 billion of support over four years.