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Finance ministers and central bank governors from the group of 20 (G20) concluded their two-day meeting in Berlin on Sunday, calling on the US, the European and Asian countries to take joint actions to ensure strong and sustainable economic growth worldwide.
"We underscored the importance of medium-term fiscal consolidation in the United States, continued structural reforms in Europe and Japan, and, in emerging Asia, steps towards greater exchange rate flexibility," said the G20 officials in their closing communique.
German Finance Minister Hans Eichel, whose country hosts this G20 meeting, told a press conference that the group members expect the macro-economic environment in the world to remain favorable in the next year.
But he also warned that downside risks to growth have increased worldwide due to volatile oil prices, persisting external imbalances and geopolitical concerns.
"The growth of the world economy would be lower in the next year due to the high oil prices," said the minister.
In the communique, the G20 members said they expect oil prices to moderate in the medium term.
"Cooperation between oil producers and consumers to ensure adequate supply, investment to expand oil production capacity, improvements in oil market transparency, greater energy efficiency and wider use of alternative sources of energy will contribute to improving the resilience and sustainability of the international economy and to more moderate oil prices in the medium term," said the communique.
The statement did not mention the exchange rates, although the fall of US dollar was widely debated on the sideline of the forum held at this weekend.
Eichel told reporters that the possibility of foreign exchange market intervention to halt the soft dollar was not discussed at all.
The G20, founded in Berlin in 1999, comprises all the large industrialized nations and the main emerging economies such as China, Brazil and India.
(Xinhua News Agency November 22, 2004)
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