Several EU finance ministers, as well as ECB President Christine Lagarde and EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, walked out of the G20 ‘Finance’ meeting in Washington, on Wednesday 20 April, in protest of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when their Russian counterpart, Anton Siluanov, took the floor.
The hybrid meeting of the world’s major financial leaders, the first since the outbreak of war in Ukraine at the end of February, focused on the macroeconomic consequences of the war in Ukraine, with Ukrainian Minister Serhiy Marchenko taking part in the discussion.
Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, whose country holds the G20 presidency this year, admitted that the forum and international financial organisations face unprecedented challenges.
“Members share the view that the war has made global growth as well as recovery much more complex”, she noted. Then added: “There is a strong condemnation regarding the war in Ukraine by Russia, but all members essentially underlined the need for all of us to continue maintaining G-20 cooperation and the importance of multilateralism”.
For US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, “Russia’s war against Ukraine has imperiled the global recovery from the pandemic and aggravated inflation, with vulnerable populations across the world feeling the effects of steeply rising food prices”.
On Tuesday, the IMF warned of a sharp slowdown in economic growth in the euro area, with growth falling to 2.8% of GDP in 2022, compared with its January forecast of 3.9% (see EUROPE 12934/17).
Speaking via video conference, Mr Siluanov warned against politicising the debate.
“At the moment, there is no possibility of excluding (the Russian authorities) from these forums”, a French source in Bercy said last week, noting the willingness of member countries to denounce the invasion of Ukraine at every meeting of international economic bodies.
No communiqué was issued after the G20 ‘Finance’ meeting.
Other discussions at the spring meetings of the international financial organisations include, in addition to macroeconomic assistance to vulnerable countries, the creation of a fund within the World Bank to finance preparedness for future pandemics. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)