The India G20 Presidency has been able to arrive at a general consensus on four key financial matters – including the Global South in industrial economies’ growth strategies, restructuring multilateral development banks (MDBs) for inclusive global growth, leveraging digital technology for societal development and exploring potential of new technology for common good, at least three people aware of the development said.
As of now, there is a consensus on all these matters, broadly related to the finance track, and it is reflected in a draft of the joint communique subject to the heads of states’ approval, these people said, asking not to be named.
The two-day meeting of the G20 leaders starts from Saturday and the outcome of their deliberations would only be known after Sunday afternoon, they added.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, economic affairs secretary Ajay Seth said India’s G20 Presidency, which focused on supporting “inclusive” and “sustainable” global growth, held several “rich and intense” discussions with members on strengthening MDBs.
“Under the leadership of our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the vision of India G20 Presidency is to bring focus of the global discourse on issues which make a difference to people’s life, [and] lead to actionable, decidable, sustainable and inclusive growth and empower the global growth,” he said.
The vision guided G20 finance ministers, central bank governors and deputies to work towards definite recommendations that would strengthen MDBs to meet the challenges of the 21st century, he said.
{{/usCountry}}The vision guided G20 finance ministers, central bank governors and deputies to work towards definite recommendations that would strengthen MDBs to meet the challenges of the 21st century, he said.
{{/usCountry}}Responding to query on how a collective of developed economies and the Global South shared approaches at the same conference, foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra said, “It is a fact that industrial economy comes from vastly different economic base, social base, and the Global South comes from a different economic base. But, this is not to say that the priorities, interests and the concerns of the Global South are not relevant in the context of the G20.”
If anything, they are perhaps, “central” to the effective functioning and successful outcome, he added.
Seth said restructured and strong MDBs are one of the institutional mechanisms to achieve an inclusive global growth. He said the G20 India Presidency devoted time to find solutions on how to support “strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth” in the midst of the challenges the world is facing. This also includes managing debt vulnerabilities of poor nations, he added.
On MDB reforms – that is strengthening such banks as well as other institutions -- there has been very “rich and intense” discussions and “we are highly hopeful” that the discourse over the past nine months will get a positive consideration from the leaders, he said.
Taking cue from the critical role played by digital public infrastructure (DPI) in achieving inclusive growth and social development in India, he said one of the priorities of the members was to use technology for financial inclusion, for productivity gains, and for efficiency in the private sector.
“Similarly, how the new potentials of technology such as blockchains of crypto can be beneficial,” was also discussed, according to the official.
He said the discourse was started around how to build a policy approach on this matter and what set of regulations should be acceptable. A synthesis paper made public on Thursday said comprehensive regulatory and licensing of crypto-assets ecosystem is a must for macroeconomic and financial stability. It also cautioned that widespread adoption of crypto-assets could undermine the effectiveness of monetary policy, circumvent capital flow management measures, exacerbate fiscal risks, divert resources available for financing the real economy, and threaten global financial stability.
Seth said the outcomes of several rounds of deliberations on key economic issues over the last nine months was forwarded to the leaders as recommendations for their consideration. They would discuss these recommendations in the course of next two days and then we will have definite outcomes, he added.
Speaking at the same press conference, India’s G20 Sharpa Amitabh Kant said: “While we are not talking at this stage about achievements, I think, one of the key takeaways of India’s Presidency is that the world acknowledges India’s push for technology to the digital public infrastructure (DPI) which is a unique model so its definition, its framework, and how we take it forward all --- of this have come into discussions”.