G-20 nations confident global recovery will gain speed

ANKARA — Finance officials from the world's leading economies said yesterday that global growth has fallen short of their expectations but they remained confident that the global economic recovery would gain speed.

Ending a two-day summit in the Turkish capital Ankara, finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 leading economies promised to take "decisive action" to keep economic recovery on track.

The meeting was held at a time of heightened uncertainty over the global economy triggered by slow growth in China, increased market volatility and concern over a looming US interest rate increase.

Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Cevdet Yilmaz told reporters at the end of the meeting that G-20 members were reassured China would continue to grow and achieve a 7 percent rate.

"There is a general opinion that growth will continue with a rate of around 7 percent," Yilmaz said. "This is something that will appease concerns to a certain extent."

However, the International Monetary Fund said in a statement that it believes risks to growth have increased.

"Downside risks have increased, especially for emerging market economies," said Christine Lagarde, the IMF's managing director. "Growth is still too moderate and uneven ... The only thing that is too high is unemployment."

The G-20 members promised to "calibrate" their economic policies and to "clearly" communicate actions they will be taking in a bid to increase transparency and reduce uncertainty.

A final statement said the members promised to move toward a "more market-determined exchange rate system" and to "refrain from competitive devaluations."

It was an apparent reference to a Chinese move to weaken its currency, seen as a deliberate effort to boost exports.

Earlier, a senior US Treasury official said China must improve "communication" of its economic policies and steer clear of competitive devaluation so that the value of its currency is determined by market forces.

The official said there was a "shared sense" among G-20 members "for the need to double down on its principle that competitive devaluation would be a bad move."