State Minister of Finance Eran Wickramaratne speaking at the G-24 Ministers and Governors meeting held ahead of the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group in Washington recently said that there was a risk from growing debt vulnerabilities in many countries, particularly in low-income countries.
The Minister opined that building capacity for public debt and liability management, the theme of the recent Technical Group Meeting held in Colombo, is a matter of priority for many of the developing countries who are members of the Group of G-24.
“We recognize the importance of putting in place policies to reduce debt vulnerabilities and also look forward to hearing the perspectives of the WB and the IMF on supportive multilateral responses”, he said.
The G-24 Ministers welcomed the recovery of global growth and investment.
The importance of sustaining inclusive growth-to enhance the resilience of member economies was emphasized as a key priority of the group and increasing urgency of global cooperation to improve growth prospects of all countries was discussed.
At the same time, the members noted the heightened downside risks which may arise from a potential sharp tightening of financial conditions, further rise in protectionism, and geopolitical tensions.
The Ministers’ concerns revolved around the recent increase in trade restrictions in major economies as a source of significant policy uncertainty and reiterated the responsibility for working towards an open, rules-based, multilateral, and equitable trading system that benefits the global economy.
The necessity of strong Global Financial Safety Net with an adequately-resourced, quota-based IMF at its centre was discussed at the meeting.
G-24 urged the continued support from IFIs and the international community to developing countries to face the challenge of serious humanitarian issues occurred through the refugee crises.
While welcoming the UN Global Compact on Migration, the members requested more analytical work to assess the potential macroeconomic and developmental impacts of the tightening of immigration regulations by some countries.