Recovery: G7 talks growth, austerity

Britain, president of this year's G8 is pushing for greater multilateral co-operation in tackling tax evasion.

UNITED KINGDOM: The Group of Seven top economies are set for a second day of talks on Saturday aimed at spurring growth amid US-Europe divisions over the scale of austerity and renewed market focus on “currency wars”.

“Our task is to nurture the recovery,” British finance minister George Osborne said Friday as he opened the gathering amid pressure on Britain and other indebted European nations to scale back deep cuts to state spending, in order to support fragile growth. Britain is this year’s president of the G8, or G7 plus Russia, and is using the platform to also push for greater multilateral co-operation in tackling tax evasion.

The International Monetary Fund while welcoming efforts by indebted nations to cut spending has urged Britain to lessen the pace of its austerity programme to support the country’s fragile economic recovery. The meeting is being attended by finance ministers and central bank governors from all the member states as well as top representatives from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2013.

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