BALI: Russiathe war in Ukraine poses the greatest threat to the global economy, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Thursday as G20 ministers prepare to begin talks in Indonesia.
Moscow’s invasion has sent inflation soaring at a time when the world is struggling to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, jeopardizing gains over the past two years and threatening hunger and poverty. widespread.
“Our biggest challenge right now comes from Russia’s illegal and unprovoked war against Ukraine,” she said on the resort island of Bali before a meeting of finance ministers from leading economies. world leaders and central bank governors on Friday and Saturday.
“We are seeing negative effects from that war everywhere in the world, especially in terms of higher energy prices and increased food insecurity,” she added.
“The international community must be clear about holding Putin responsible for the global economic and humanitarian consequences of its war. ”
Yellen said she will continue to pressure G20 allies at the meeting to demand a cap on Russian oil prices to strangle Putin’s war chest and pressure Moscow to end the concurrent aggression. reduce energy costs.
“The price cap … is one of our most powerful tools,” she said, adding that a cap would deny Putin “the revenue his war machine needs.”
She expressed hope that India and China would join such a cap, saying it “would serve their own interests” to put downward pressure on prices on consumers around the world.
But she denied that Western officials would hold a multinational romp when Russian officials spoke, as they did at a G20 meeting in Washington in April.
“It can’t be business as usual,” she said. “I can tell you that I can certainly expect to express in the strongest terms possible my views on the Russian invasion … to talk about its impact on Ukraine and the entire global economy and condemn it.”
“I hope many of my colleagues will do the same.”
– Global outlook ‘dark’ – Russia’s Finance Minister will not attend the Bali talks, instead addressing the issue, a week after Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov found himself being ignored by opponents. G20 partners are more critical of Moscow’s military offensive.
Yellen’s comments echo those of the head of the International Monetary Fund, who on Wednesday said the global economic outlook had “darkened significantly” because of Moscow’s invasion, just months after it adjusted its stance. revised down global growth forecasts for 2022 and 2023.
The IMF is “forecasting a further downgrade to global growth” in 2022 and 2023, Kristalina Georgieva said in a blog post published ahead of this weekend’s meeting.
The risk of “social unrest” is also increasing due to rising food and energy prices, she wrote.
But there was significant progress in efforts to break the impasse on Wednesday after Russia and Ukraine met in Turkey for the first face-to-face talks since March on an agreement to defuse the conflict. food crisis due to blocked grain exports in the Black Sea.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it “a ray of hope to ease human suffering and alleviate hunger around the world” ahead of another round of talks scheduled for next week.
Moscow’s invasion has sent inflation soaring at a time when the world is struggling to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, jeopardizing gains over the past two years and threatening hunger and poverty. widespread.
“Our biggest challenge right now comes from Russia’s illegal and unprovoked war against Ukraine,” she said on the resort island of Bali before a meeting of finance ministers from leading economies. world leaders and central bank governors on Friday and Saturday.
“We are seeing negative effects from that war everywhere in the world, especially in terms of higher energy prices and increased food insecurity,” she added.
“The international community must be clear about holding Putin responsible for the global economic and humanitarian consequences of its war. ”
Yellen said she will continue to pressure G20 allies at the meeting to demand a cap on Russian oil prices to strangle Putin’s war chest and pressure Moscow to end the concurrent aggression. reduce energy costs.
“The price cap … is one of our most powerful tools,” she said, adding that a cap would deny Putin “the revenue his war machine needs.”
She expressed hope that India and China would join such a cap, saying it “would serve their own interests” to put downward pressure on prices on consumers around the world.
But she denied that Western officials would hold a multinational romp when Russian officials spoke, as they did at a G20 meeting in Washington in April.
“It can’t be business as usual,” she said. “I can tell you that I can certainly expect to express in the strongest terms possible my views on the Russian invasion … to talk about its impact on Ukraine and the entire global economy and condemn it.”
“I hope many of my colleagues will do the same.”
– Global outlook ‘dark’ – Russia’s Finance Minister will not attend the Bali talks, instead addressing the issue, a week after Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov found himself being ignored by opponents. G20 partners are more critical of Moscow’s military offensive.
Yellen’s comments echo those of the head of the International Monetary Fund, who on Wednesday said the global economic outlook had “darkened significantly” because of Moscow’s invasion, just months after it adjusted its stance. revised down global growth forecasts for 2022 and 2023.
The IMF is “forecasting a further downgrade to global growth” in 2022 and 2023, Kristalina Georgieva said in a blog post published ahead of this weekend’s meeting.
The risk of “social unrest” is also increasing due to rising food and energy prices, she wrote.
But there was significant progress in efforts to break the impasse on Wednesday after Russia and Ukraine met in Turkey for the first face-to-face talks since March on an agreement to defuse the conflict. food crisis due to blocked grain exports in the Black Sea.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it “a ray of hope to ease human suffering and alleviate hunger around the world” ahead of another round of talks scheduled for next week.
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