G-20 Agree More Government Action Needed for World Recovery

Group of 20 officials meeting in Mexico City agreed that the latest monetary easing by developed nations will buy time for the global economic recovery and that governments must do more to boost growth, Mexican central bank Deputy Governor Manuel Ramos Francia said.

Ramos Francia spoke at a news conference following the end of a two-day meeting of deputy finance ministers and central bank officials from G-20 nations in Mexico City. Mexico is presiding over the group this year.

“Time can be bought through monetary easing, but the risks are still present,” Ramos Francia said. “For Europe to effectively heal, for example, other types of policies need to be implemented.”

The meetings took place after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said Sept. 6 that the bank was ready to buy unlimited quantities of short-dated government bonds of nations signed up for rescues.

The U.S. Federal Reserve on Sept. 13 said that it would make additional purchases of debt in a third round of so-called quantitative easing, while the Bank of Japan unexpectedly increased its asset-purchase fund to 55 trillion yen ($707 billion) at its meeting last week.

Commodity Prices

The G-20 nations called for better transparency in commodities markets and for measures to boost production, transportation and trade of raw materials to reduce price volatilitiy, said Mexico’s deputy finance minister, Gerardo Rodriguez, who co-chaired the Sept. 23 and 24 meetings.

Increasing raw material production “was the central part of our discussions today,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said the deputies discussed boosting emerging markets’ International Monetary Fund quotas, which determine access to financing, financial obligation and voting rights. A concrete decision will probably come by the end of the year or the start of 2013, he said.

The nations agreed that emerging markets should “gradually” increase their presence in the IMF based on measurements including economic output, Rodriguez said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nacha Cattan in Mexico City at ncattan@bloomberg.net; Eric Martin in Mexico City at emartin21@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman at jgoodman19@bloomberg.net

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Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) -- International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde speaks about the global economy, the need for European policy makers to implement their plans to save the euro and form a banking union, and risks the U.S. poses through the fiscal tightening that may result next year. Lagarde, speaking in Washington, said uncertainty over the ability of policy makers around the world to deliver on their promises is weighing down on the global economy. (Source: Bloomberg)