Currency wars less of an issue for G20, Canadian finance official ...

OTTAWA ? Finance officials from the world?s leading economies will be less focused on ?currency wars? at meetings this week despite recent attention on Japan?s aggressive monetary policy, according to a senior Canadian finance official on Tuesday.

Asked how finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies would react to Japan?s massive bond-buying scheme and the impact on its currency, the official suggested exchange rate issues were not as hot an agenda item as they were at the last meeting in Moscow in February.

The G20 meeting takes place in Washington on Thursday and Friday.

There continues to be a need for coordinated exchange rate adjustment to foster a stronger economic recovery, the official said, without naming any countries. He spoke on the condition he not be named or quoted.

Canada supports Japan?s actions to kickstart its economy and the G20 more broadly seeks to ensure all countries? policies target their domestic economies and not foreign exchange rates to gain a competitive advantage.

The United States, on the other hand, put Japan on notice last week that it was watching its economic policies to ensure they were not aimed at devaluing the yen.

The Bank of Japan launched a massive bond-buying program earlier this month to try to shock its economy out of stagnation. The policy sharply undercut the value of the yen and Japanese officials made some comments last year that suggested they might be targeting a weaker yen.

G20 finance officials may also touch on the surprising drop in gold prices in their talks, but only as part of broader assessment of the overall outlook for financial markets and the global economy, the official said.

That discussion will include the implications of the Cyprus crisis on asset prices and a prognosis of where those prices are headed, he said.

There is no agreement yet on another big area of coordinated policies ? reducing public debt.

G20 members agree on the need to strengthen their commitment to cut deficits and debt beyond 2016 but have not reached an agreement on the details of such a pledge that would reflect each country?s specific circumstances, the official said.

One question in the talks is whether the Europeans? own target of cutting their debt to 60% of gross domestic product could be applied to all, he said.

Canada and India co-chair the committee on the framework for growth, which is responsible for this issue.

According to a document obtained by Reuters, the co-chairs put forth a proposal for discussion at the upcoming meeting that would see countries agreeing to cut their public debt to well below 90% of gross domestic product in the longer term.

But the official stressed that there were a range of options on the table and none of them had been endorsed by anyone in particular.

Source: http://business.financialpost.com/2013/04/16/currency-wars-less-of-an-issue-for-g20-canadian-finance-official-says/

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