A number of finance officials from the world’s biggest economies called for a cautious and well-coordinated approach to dealing with the pandemic recovery.
During an online news conference, Warjiyo told reporters that we need a well coordinated and well thought out normalization policy was necessary to support the global financial system.
In their G-20 meeting, finance ministers and leading central bankers agreed that the United States and other countries should reduce the impact of interest rate increases as they seek to combat inflation.
In order to protect global markets and to make sure that these policies have little impact on developing countries, this is important.”
Meetings like those held in Jakarta Thursday and Friday lay the groundwork for a summit of the G-20 later in the year.
During his address to the summit, Indonesian President Joko Widodo urged to cooperate so that global recovery could be supported and tensions like those in Ukraine avoided.
The global economy ain’t doing well, and the pandemic is far from over,” Widodo said.
Leaders in the financial world are treading a precarious line between raising rates on borrowing to try and cool inflation and alleviating the effects of the pandemic.
Last month, consumer prices in 19 euro-using countries rose 5.1%, a record level, and a nearly 30-year high in the United Kingdom.
In an effort to combat inflation, the U.S. Federal Reserve is poised to raise interest rates as soon as next month, winding down its massive support for markets and businesses. Inflation is expected to drop to 7.5% by the end of next month, the highest inflation rate in 40 years.
In Indonesia, the central bank has also taken steps to curb inflation. However, some other economies are still struggling to recover from the pandemic’s effects.
Many government officials participated both in person and online at the G-20 meetings as a consequence of travel issues and quarantines resulting from outbreaks primarily of the omicron coronavirus, which has affected many countries.
Southeast Asia’s host Indonesia is among many countries that have been affected by severe outbreaks of virus. However, vaccinations have helped curtail most of the disruption.
It is the 10th largest economy in the world and is located in the fastest growing region, at least up until the pandemic disrupted travel and disrupted business. Nearly 6 million people were killed during the pandemic.
