Bangalore, India –
Top financial leaders from a group of 20 major economies have gathered this week in southern India’s tech hub Bengaluru to grapple with a myriad of challenges to global growth and stability, including stubbornly high inflation and soaring debt.
India will host the G20 financial conclave for the first time in 20 years. Later this year, she plans to host her first G20 economic summit. The conference offers her second most populous country in the world an opportunity to demonstrate its rise as an economic powerhouse and its status as a champion of the developing world.
This week’s meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors comes just one year after Russia invaded Ukraine, triggering a series of shocks to the global economy, led by decades of high inflation. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is expected to address the global economic impact of the war at the G20 meeting.
India, one of the nations on the fringes between the West and Russia, eager to claim more global influence, has seen its economy benefit from discounted purchases of Russian oil. Therefore, they are wary of getting involved in a hostile relationship.
“India is playing a leading role globally,” Information Minister Anurag Thakur said on Wednesday, adding that India’s Narendra said: “In today’s era there is no war. Dialogue and discussion are the only way forward.” He repeated Modi’s position.
As the host of more than 200 G20 meetings in 28 cities leading up to the November summit, Modi will use his role to advance India’s reputation as a leader in fighting climate change and benefit the developed and developing nations. It is expected to act as a bridge between that are under development.
“We don’t have the resources that developed countries have, but with minimal resources, we have achieved a lot in areas such as space and renewable energy such as green hydrogen.
The International Monetary Fund estimates that India and China alone will contribute more than half of global economic growth this year, with other Asian countries contributing another quarter of that growth to annual economic growth. 6% to 7% growth rate.
India’s economy is projected to expand at an annualized rate of 6.1% this year after growing 6.8% last year, the IMF said in a report released on Monday.
“The difficult situation at the macroeconomic level has eased somewhat, but inflation remains high. Coordination among major economies is essential in this situation,” senior finance ministry official Ajay Seth said on Tuesday. told reporters in Bengaluru.
Bangalore is an Indian startup and the cradle of technology. Initially recognized as an outsourcing hub, it is now known for entrepreneurs and information technology companies. However, the city suffers from poor planning. Last year saw extreme flooding that caused an estimated $30 million in damage, partly because of global warming.
Upgrading urban infrastructure is the first of four G20 Finance Ministers meetings to be held in India this year.
The G20 includes the world’s largest economies, with a regularly elected chair. Indonesia was the host country last year, Brazil next year and South Africa in 2025.
In countries like India, it is seen as a counterbalance to a wealthy cluster of economies such as the G7.
At the meeting in Bengaluru, officials will discuss a range of issues related to climate finance and seek agreement on digital currency regulation, global tax issues and other fiscal priorities.
Yellen and other officials have suggested the risk of heavy debt burdens in many countries will also be discussed after costly efforts to mitigate the worst effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. These predicaments are exacerbated as countries’ imports surge due to sustained increases in food, oil and fertilizer prices and weakening currencies.
President Yellen visited Zambia in January to discuss the African country’s $6 billion debt to China, its biggest creditor. Zambia became Africa’s first coronavirus pandemic-era sovereign default location when it failed to pay her $42.5 million bond in November 2020.
However, many other countries, including India’s neighbor Sri Lanka and other Asian countries, have seen their finances worsen over the past year.
“Several countries are facing huge debt problems. Finding lasting solutions to them will feature prominently in the discussion,” said Seth, an official at the Treasury Department.
The senior Treasury official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview Yellen’s travel plans, intends to encourage other G20 countries to cut their carbon emissions and invest more in developing renewable energy, infrastructure and agriculture. Said there was.
At the United Nations Climate Conference last November, India, now the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, proposed phasing out all fossil fuels and reiterated the need to revamp global climate finance. Did.
Building stronger public health systems, increasing access to sustainable energy, and helping countries boost productivity are long-standing G20 priorities that have been reinforced by a global economic slowdown, debt crises and conflicts like the Ukraine war. often tend to be overshadowed by the pressing concerns of
War and pandemic shocks have amplified disruptions to energy supplies, transport and food security, complicating efforts to stabilize the global economy after the pandemic’s disruptions.
Another priority for Bengaluru is adjusting monetary policy as it assesses whether the central bank will continue to raise interest rates or scale back its efforts to curb inflation.
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Associated Press reporters Kurtika Patti of New Delhi, India and Fatima Hussein of Washington contributed to this report. Kurtenbach was donated by Bangkok
