G7 Finance Ministers meet on debt crisis

The G-7 finance and central bank chiefs will meet in the French city of Marseille on Friday to seek ways able to ease fears over global recession and debt crisis in the Eurozone. The debt crises in the Eurozone and United States and concerns about the health of European banks were also expected to dominate the two-day meeting, according to German news agency (DPA). Besides, G7 officials are likely to shed more light on the Eurozone debt crisis which prompted heavy losses too in world stocks, the worst since 2008 financial downturn. In this context, ministers and banks governors will point to the need of the “golden rule” to help governments avoid potential turmoil by adopting tough measures to tighten public spending and narrow deficit to reach the European Union (EU) financial standards. Approved by Germany and Spain, the “golden rule” is still discussed in France where several political parties oppose the right-wing French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s austerity plan. In the newly released OECD interim assessment on G7 economies, the advisory agency projected that “the sovereign debt crisis in the euro area could intensify again” and “renewed concerns over balance sheet of banks … point to possible further tightening of financial conditions.” The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said in a report Thursday that economic growth in G7 economies excluding Japan will remain less than at annualised 1 percent on average in the second half of this year. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said the 17-nation single currency bloc is set for a “tough ride” in coming months amid uncertain global economic developments and lingering debt crisis. Formed in 1975, the G7 is the meeting of the finance ministers from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States and Canada.