Australian Treasurer warns not to be complacent about G20 meeting

Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey published an opinion piece in Australian Financial Review on Thursday, setting out agenda for the G20 meetings in the weekend. Hockey, who is going to chair the G20 finance ministers and central bankers' meeting in Sydney on Feb. 22 and 23, noted that growth in advanced economies, particularly the U.S., Britain and Japan, looks to be picking up, while emerging market economies, as a group, are expected to continue to make strong contributions to global growth, despite recent episodes of market volatility that some have experienced. "The global economic recovery is not yet sufficiently strong or broadly based enough to create the number of jobs we need to sustain growth. There are also significant risks on the downside for many of our member economies," Hockey writes. "To boost growth, we will need a fresh approach to encourage private investment in the right infrastructure," he says. Hockey says that infrastructure will be a key as countries try to boost economic growth and create jobs. "The G20 brings together countries to share their policies, allowing others to assess the potential impacts of these policies on their economy," he says. He also writes that G20 will consider how episodes of financial market volatility are affecting emerging market economies. Some of these economies are experiencing exchange-rate pressures, high inflation and capital outflows and these three issues can be appropriately managed at a global level. After the St Petersburg G20 Leaders Summit last year, finance ministers were asked to return with their own growth strategy in time for the 2014 Brisbane Summit. This year, each G20 finance minister will present their comprehensive growth strategy focused on investment, employment, trade and competition. "The G20 in Sydney will enhance its objective of setting up clear, practical goals and co-ordinated individual and collective actions to achieve strong, sustainable and balanced growth. Co- ordinated global reform is highly complex and challenging. Our task will not be easy. The first G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Australia's host year have a full but focused agenda," Hockey writes. In an earlier speech, Hockey said he would focus the G20 meeting agenda on achievements in the areas of macro-economic coordination, financial regulation and taxation. Macroeconomic coordination is particularly important in the wake of the U.S. federal reserve's decision to withdraw its massive quantitative easing program, Hockey said. In the area of financial regulation, the meeting will focus on building resilient financial institutions; ending "too big to fail "; addressing shadow banking risks; and making derivatives markets more transparent and robust, Hockey said. International taxation arrangements will also be addressed to stop evasion by multinational corporations. "We need to make sure there are no gaps between our tax systems and we need to make sure we exchange tax information as a matter of course. Solutions must be global," he added.