Participants said Brexit was at the forefront of concerns at the meeting in Chengdu.
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The British vote “increased global economic uncertainty”, said a joint statement by the officials, who were meeting in Chengdu in western China.
In addition, the nations said they were well positioned to proactively address potential economic and financial consequences of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.
Because of imperfect global tax governance, around 4 to 10 percent of global corporate income tax, equivalent to 100 billion to 240 billion US dollars, is evaded through cross-border business activities each year, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Britain’s new finance minister Philip Hammond was attending the G20 meeting in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu but did not comment to media.
“The reality is there will be a measure of uncertainty continuing right up to the conclusion of our negotiations with the European Union”, he said. She said that turmoil prompted the International Monetary Fund to cut its forecast of this year’s global growth by 0.1 percentage points.
The EU’s top economic official, Pierre Moscovici, said the bloc understood that Britain should not be rushed but “at the same time. let’s not waste time, let’s not have too much uncertainty, let’s act and choose as swiftly as possible”. “It’s a process that could take longer”, a senior US Treasury official told journalists on Saturday.
Other challenges threaten: a slowdown in the Chinese economy, as well as terrorist attacks and the failed coup in Turkey – which have rattled financial markets.
“We reaffirm our solidarity and resolve in the fight against terrorism in all its forms and wherever it occurs”, the communique said.
“‘We have to have certainty now around the timetable”, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said.
“The world economy is beleaguered with many serious problems”, China’s Lou said on yesterday.
China’s economy, the world’s second largest, is caught in a fundamental transition to making domestic consumption the key driver instead of massive public spending and cheap exports.
“In this context, I noted that the G20 members are taking actions to foster confidence and support growth”.
Fiscally rigorous Germany in particular is reluctant to endorse the use of government spending to boost growth, seeing it as ineffective.
“It would be a mistake to think about the choice of tools as being either/or when it comes to structural reforms or using fiscal space”, said Lew.
Hammond told reporters on Sunday the two-year negotiating period, once launched, represented “quite a tight timescale” and Britain needed to go into it with clear objectives.
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Managing-Director Christine Lagarde (3rd R) chats with Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam (2nd R) and Italy’s Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan (R) in a waiting room prior to the start of the G20 High-level Tax Symposium during a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Chengdu, in China’s Sichuan province on Saturday. Lackluster growth of the post-crisis era continues, with weak demand in advanced economies and hard transitions to a self-sustained growth model in many emerging markets. “Structural reforms are particularly critical”.
