Communiqué: G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting
IMF News, April 15, 2016
Source details
- Canonical URL
- Communiqué: G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting
Other formats
Bibliographic details
- Published: April 15, 2016
Global outlook and risks
- Global recovery continues; financial markets have recovered most of the ground lost earlier in the year since the February meeting in Shanghai.
- Growth remains modest and uneven; downside risks and uncertainties persist amid continued financial volatility, challenges faced by commodity exporters and low inflation.
- Geopolitical conflicts, terrorism, refugee flows, and the shock of a potential UK exit from the European Union complicate the global economic environment.
Policy stance and coordination
- Commitments to use all policy tools—monetary, fiscal and structural—individually and collectively to foster confidence and strengthen growth.
- Monetary policy: continue to support economic activity and ensure price stability, consistent with central banks’ mandates; monetary policy alone cannot lead to balanced growth.
- Fiscal policy: use flexibly to strengthen growth, job creation and confidence, while enhancing resilience and ensuring debt as a share of GDP is on a sustainable path.
- Tax and public expenditure: make more growth-friendly, including prioritizing high-quality investment.
- Exchange rates: reaffirm previous commitments, including refraining from competitive devaluations and not targeting exchange rates for competitive purposes; commit to consulting closely on exchange markets.
- Trade: resist all forms of protectionism.
- Communication: carefully calibrate and clearly communicate macroeconomic and structural policy actions to reduce policy uncertainty, minimize negative spillovers and promote transparency.
Structural reforms and growth strategies
- Concrete progress on an enhanced structural reform agenda with support from the OECD, the IMF and other IOs.
- Priority areas identified; by July further develop and agree a set of guiding principles as a reference guide to national reform actions.
- Work toward proposals for a set of indicators to monitor and assess structural reform efforts and progress for endorsement at the July meeting.
- Commit to combining investment strategies with growth strategies and to effective and timely implementation of growth strategies, including through an enhanced peer review process.
- Explore steps to revitalize global trade, lift quality investment and boost innovation; promote greater inclusiveness and reduce excessive global imbalances.
Investment and infrastructure
- Reaffirm commitment to advancing the investment agenda with focus on infrastructure quantity and quality.
- Encourage MDBs to carry out action plans to optimize balance sheets, take joint actions to formulate quantitative ambition for high quality projects and support infrastructure investment, including catalyzing private sector funding.
- Work toward launching the Global Infrastructure Connectivity Alliance to enhance synergy and cooperation of infrastructure programs, including regional programs.
- Develop a policy guidance note to promote diversified financing instruments for infrastructure and SMEs.
- Support effective implementation of the G20/OECD Corporate Governance and SME Financing Principles and the G20 Action Plan on SME Financing.
- Welcome the Knowledge Sharing Report submitted by the Global Infrastructure Hub.
International monetary system and IMF-related issues
- Support strengthening the global financial safety net with the IMF at its center, including more effective cooperation between the IMF and regional financing arrangements.
- Support work to improve the IMF’s toolkit and reaffirm commitment to a strong, quota-based, and adequately resourced IMF.
- Look forward to completion of the 15th General Review of Quotas, including a new quota formula, by the 2017 Annual Meetings.
- Reaffirm expectation that any realignment under the 15th review in quota shares is expected to result in increased shares for dynamic economies in line with their relative positions in the world economy, and hence likely in the share of emerging market and developing countries as a whole.
- Look forward to outcomes of the World Bank Group’s shareholding review in accordance with the agreed roadmap and timeframe.
- Work to facilitate more orderly, timely and predictable sovereign debt restructuring processes, foster greater dialogue among official creditors and debtors, and promote the incorporation of enhanced contractual clauses into sovereign bonds.
- Welcome progress in Argentina’s effort to end a decade-long dispute and regain access to international capital markets.
- Continue enhancing monitoring and analysis of capital flows and risks stemming from capital flow volatility, and welcome IMF work to review country experiences and policies in dealing with capital flows.
- Note the OECD is reviewing its Code on Liberalization of Capital Movements.
- Will discuss the size of the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) during the 11th Basic Period of SDR and reporting official reserves in SDR; support examination of possible broader use of SDR.
Financial sector reform and stability
- Reiterate commitment to finalizing remaining core elements and support timely, full and consistent implementation of agreed financial sector reform agenda, including Basel III and total loss absorbing capacity (TLAC) standard.
- Support Basel Committee work to refine elements of Basel III to ensure coherence and maximize effectiveness without further significantly increasing overall capital requirements across the banking sector.
- Continue to enhance monitoring of implementation and effects of reforms and address any material unintended consequences.
- Anticipate coordinated work by IMF, FSB and BIS to take stock of international experiences with macro-prudential frameworks and tools and report back by next meeting.
- Welcome FSB work to assess shifts in market liquidity and consider policy measures if necessary; look forward to planned public consultation in mid-2016 on policy recommendations to address structural vulnerabilities in asset management.
- Look forward to FSB peer review report on country-specific implementation of the FSB policy framework for shadow banking entities and call on members to address identified gaps.
- Reiterate commitment to expediting implementation of the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures and progress on enhancing central counterparty resilience, recovery planning and resolvability, including Crisis Management Groups; look forward to FSB report in September.
- Support work to assess and address decline in correspondent banking services under FSB-coordinated action plan and request a report to the Summit.
- Reaffirm support for GPFI work on enhancing SME financing, promoting digital financial inclusion and improving data collection and indicators.
Tax transparency and BEPS
- Reiterate commitment to timely and widespread implementation of the G20/OECD BEPS package and encourage all relevant and interested countries and jurisdictions to join the new inclusive framework on an equal footing quickly; note its first meeting will be in June.
- Reaffirm importance of effective and widespread implementation of internationally agreed standards on transparency.
- Call on all relevant countries, including financial centers and jurisdictions not committed to implement the standard on automatic exchange of information by 2017 or 2018, to do so without delay and to sign the Multilateral Convention.
- Expect that by the 2017 G20 Summit all countries and jurisdictions will upgrade their Global Forum rating to a satisfactory level.
- Mandate the OECD, working with G20 countries, to establish objective criteria by the July meeting to identify non-cooperative jurisdictions with respect to tax transparency.
- Indicate defensive measures will be considered by G20 members against non-cooperative jurisdictions if progress as assessed by the Global Forum is not made.
- Look forward to the Global Forum report on transparency and information exchange for tax purposes before the end of the year.
- Welcome efforts to build capacity on tax matters for developing economies and encourage G20 members to consider committing to the principles of the Addis Tax Initiative.
Transparency, beneficial ownership and AML/CFT
- Reiterate high priority attached to financial transparency and effective implementation of standards on transparency, particularly regarding beneficial ownership of legal persons and legal arrangements.
- Emphasize importance of full implementation of FATF standards on transparency and beneficial ownership to prevent misuse for corruption, tax evasion, terrorist financing and money laundering.
- Stress improving availability of beneficial ownership information and its international exchange between competent authorities.
- Request FATF and the Global Forum to make initial proposals by the October meeting on ways to improve implementation of international standards on transparency, including availability and international exchange of beneficial ownership information.
Combating terrorist financing
- Reaffirm resolve to combat decisively all sources, techniques and channels of terrorist financing.
- Call for swift and effective implementation of FATF standards, the new Consolidated Strategy on Combating Terrorist Financing, and provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 2253.
- Ask FATF, with relevant IOs, to strengthen work on identifying and tackling loopholes and deficiencies in the financial system and ensure FATF standards are effective, comprehensive and fully implemented.
- Call on IMF, OECD, FSB and World Bank Group to support FATF by contributing analysis within their respective areas of expertise.
Green finance and climate-related finance
- Welcome progress by the G20 Green Finance Study Group (GFSG) in identifying challenges to mobilize private capital for green investment.
- Ask GFSG to develop more specific options for developing green banking, scaling-up the green bond market, supporting integration of environmental factors by institutional investors, and developing ways for measuring progress of green financial activities, as part of a synthesis report to be delivered by July.
- Recognize importance of operating entities of the UNFCCC financial mechanism and welcome endorsement of the Strategic Plan for the Green Climate Fund (GCF); call for the Fund's continued efforts to scale up operations.
- Reiterate call for timely implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and commitments by developed countries and international organizations and announcements by other countries on climate finance.
- Affirm importance of monitoring and transparency of climate finance and ask the Climate Finance Study Group (CFSG) to finalize this year's work and report back at the July Meeting.
- Reaffirm commitment to implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Fossil fuel subsidies
- Reaffirm commitment to rationalize and phase-out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption over the medium term, recognizing the need to support the poor.
- Encourage all G20 countries to consider participation in the voluntary peer review of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption.
Communiqué: G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting, April 15, 2016.