G20 Finance Chiefs Tackle Uneven Recovery, Int'l Tax

The finance chiefs of the Group of 20 major economies started a two-day meeting in Italy on Friday, with discussions likely to focus on efforts to address an increasingly uneven economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and international tax reform.

It is the first such in-person meeting since the pandemic accelerated early last year, and is taking place at a time when concern is growing over unequal access to coronavirus vaccines, a situation leading to diverging recoveries between countries.

The United States has called on Beijing to increase its participation in the initiatives, criticizing its "highly opaque" lending activity for allowing some Chinese entities to be excluded from debt relief efforts because they are classified as commercial lenders rather than "official" bilateral creditors.

The IMF, meanwhile, said Friday it is making progress to realize by the end of August a $650 billion boost in its reserve assets to help members strengthen their responses to the COVID-19 crisis. The move will be done through the allocation of what is known as Special Drawing Rights, the IMF's own unit of currency.

Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen are among the attendees. Some of the participants, including Chinese Finance Minister Liu Kun, are joining virtually, according to Italy, which holds the rotating presidency this year.

During the talks in Venice, the G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors will "progress their discussions on issues related to the international economy and global health, and on the efforts to push forward the economic recovery and promoting a more sustainable growth," the Italian government said.

Just days before the meeting, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) called on the G-20, which brings together key industrialized and developing economies, to take "urgent" action to beef up vaccine supplies, such as by sharing surplus doses with the developing world and supporting financing to increase vaccine production.

"The world is facing a worsening two-track recovery, driven by dramatic differences in vaccine availability, infection rates, and the ability to provide policy support," IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said, noting that while the United States and China are picking up, many countries are falling "further behind."

The G-20 economies are also expected to affirm their progress in helping developing countries address unsustainable public debt burdens through a newly created framework aiming to offer support beyond a temporary payment relief program launched in May last year.

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