AFP, Ise-Shima :
Pumping up the world economy is an “urgent priority” G7 leaders said Friday, but left the door open for a go-your-own-way approach in a sign of lingering divisions over how to boost growth.
Wrapping up their meeting in rural Japan, the leaders of the Group of Seven endorsed a pick-and-mix approach to dealing with the malaise that has lingered since the global financial crisis struck in 2008.
“Global growth is our urgent priority,” the G7 said in a final statement.
“Taking into account country-specific circumstances, we commit to strengthening our economic policy responses in a cooperative manner and to employing a more forceful and balanced policy mix, in order to swiftly achieve a strong, sustainable and balanced growth pattern.”
The strained consensus reflects behind-the-scenes clashes that erupted on Thursday, with disputes over just how bad things actually are.
In a plenary session Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe argued that the global economy faced a risk of falling into a “crisis”, and drew comparisons with the mood when Japan last hosted a G7, in 2008, just months ahead of the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
“To that, one leader questioned whether the degree of the current situation was negative enough to use the term ‘crisis’,” a senior Japanese official said.
That leader was Angela Merkel, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said Friday.
The German chancellor has repeatedly pushed back against the notion that the world’s big industrial democracies need to spend their way out of the current slowdown, advocating instead a paying down of debt.
Leaders were, however, unequivocal on their attitude to one of the headwinds facing the global economy, and came out firmly against so-called “Brexit”.
“A UK exit form the EU would reverse the trend towards greater global trade and investment, and the jobs they create, and is a further serious risk to growth,” they said in a declaration after two-days of talks.
The grouping-the United States, Germany, Japan, Britain, Italy, France and Canada-found easy common ground on the hot-button issue of refugees, and agreed it was a worldwide problem.
“The G7 recognises the ongoing large scale movements of migrants and refugees as a global challenge which requires a global response,” the leaders said in a statement.
Pumping up the world economy is an “urgent priority” G7 leaders said Friday, but left the door open for a go-your-own-way approach in a sign of lingering divisions over how to boost growth.
Wrapping up their meeting in rural Japan, the leaders of the Group of Seven endorsed a pick-and-mix approach to dealing with the malaise that has lingered since the global financial crisis struck in 2008.
“Global growth is our urgent priority,” the G7 said in a final statement.
“Taking into account country-specific circumstances, we commit to strengthening our economic policy responses in a cooperative manner and to employing a more forceful and balanced policy mix, in order to swiftly achieve a strong, sustainable and balanced growth pattern.”
The strained consensus reflects behind-the-scenes clashes that erupted on Thursday, with disputes over just how bad things actually are.
In a plenary session Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe argued that the global economy faced a risk of falling into a “crisis”, and drew comparisons with the mood when Japan last hosted a G7, in 2008, just months ahead of the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
“To that, one leader questioned whether the degree of the current situation was negative enough to use the term ‘crisis’,” a senior Japanese official said.
That leader was Angela Merkel, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said Friday.
The German chancellor has repeatedly pushed back against the notion that the world’s big industrial democracies need to spend their way out of the current slowdown, advocating instead a paying down of debt.
Leaders were, however, unequivocal on their attitude to one of the headwinds facing the global economy, and came out firmly against so-called “Brexit”.
“A UK exit form the EU would reverse the trend towards greater global trade and investment, and the jobs they create, and is a further serious risk to growth,” they said in a declaration after two-days of talks.
The grouping-the United States, Germany, Japan, Britain, Italy, France and Canada-found easy common ground on the hot-button issue of refugees, and agreed it was a worldwide problem.
“The G7 recognises the ongoing large scale movements of migrants and refugees as a global challenge which requires a global response,” the leaders said in a statement.
