By Nneka Nwogwugwu
G20 finance chiefs have pledged to address global food insecurity, rising debt, and the energy crises.
This was agreed on at a two-day meeting of finance ministers from the Group of 20 that ended on Saturday in Indonesia.
In place of a formal communique, a 14-paragraph statement issued by Indonesia and the G20 chair’s Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said most topics were agreed by all members except for particular statements about the war in Ukraine. She described it as the “best result” the group could have achieved at this meeting.
Some used the forum as an opportunity to accuse Russian technocrats of exacerbating the problems.
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US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Friday blamed the invasion of Ukraine for sending a shockwave through the global economy.
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko participated virtually in the meeting.
Russian Deputy Finance Minister Timur Maksimov attended the talks in person a week after Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov walked out of a G20 meeting over Western criticism of the invasion.
At the beginning of the second day of talks, Indonesian central bank governor Perry Warjiyo called on ministers and global finance leaders to concentrate on recovery in a world economy reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In response to the food crisis, the IMF, World Bank, World Food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Trade Organisation also called for action in four areas.
“Support the vulnerable, facilitate trade, boost food production & invest in climate-resilient agriculture,” IMF news chief Kristalina Georgieva tweeted late on Friday, summarising the call to action.
