Pranab pins hope on G-20 summit to reduce global uncertainty

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said the global economic situation is still fragile and

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expressed hope that G-20 leaders would come out with policy prescriptions to ensure a sustained recovery at the forthcoming Seoul Summit.

"Global situation is still uncertain and economic recovery is fragile," he said while responding to questions at the Economic Editors' Conference here.

Mukherjee, who recently returned from the G-20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors at Gyeongju, in South Korea, hoped that G-20 leaders would come out with steps to deal with the global economic situation.

The G-20 Summit is scheduled to be held at Seoul on November 11-12 and will be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama, among others.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), Mukherjee said, had also pointed out that the recovery was weak in North America and Europe in its recent economic update, based on which the global body had revised growth projections downwards.

With regard to the crisis in some European countries, like Greece, Mukherjee said, "This is the problem of high sovereign debt of those countries. Experts and economists of Europe are confident they will be able to contain within these... And it will not have a spillover on other countries."

The issue was deliberated at the G-20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors, which has worked out the agenda for the Summit.

"We suggested that fiscal consolidation... Exit policy should be calibrated," lest it should hurt the economic recovery process, Mukherjee added.

Commenting on the G-20 ministerial meeting, the minister said though he was not "very much satisfied", an important consensus was reached at the conference on carrying out quota reforms at the IMF to give more voting power to emerging economies.

On the ongoing currency war, Mukherjee said it was important for countries not to take unilateral actions, as measures adopted by one nation could impact the global economy.

The currency war, which was a hot issue at the G-20 ministerial conference, revolves mainly around the US demand that China allow its currency, the yuan, to move in line with market forces, which Beijing has resisted, as the move might hurt its exports.

In response, steps have been taken by some countries, including Japan, to devalue their currencies to protect their exports.

The G-20 ministers at Gyeongju pledged to refrain from "competitive devaluation" of their currencies and move towards a "more market-determined" exchange rate regime.

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