Major economies express confidence about growth

WASHINGTON—Finance officials of the world’s major economies expressed confidence that they can meet an ambitious goal of boosting global growth by US$2 trillion over the next five years.

That’s despite a variety of threats including rising political tensions over Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Finance ministers and central bank presidents of the leading rich and developing nations issued a joint statement that papered over substantial differences in such areas as central bank interest rate policies and whether to hit Russia with tougher sanctions because of its dealings with Ukraine.

The final Group of 20 communiqué pledged to keep working on concrete economic reforms that could boost global growth by two per cent over the next five years. But finance officials concede that the economic reforms needed to achieve that goal will in many cases be politically difficult.