G20 Finance Ministers’ Meeting, Washington D.C

 

DPM Hong Suggests ‘Orderly Normalization’

in Post-pandemic Recovery

 

Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki attended the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting held in Washington, D.C. on October 13, which will be followed by the G20 Summit scheduled in Venice, Italy on October 30-31.

 

G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors discussed a range of issues through the four sessions dealing with global economic issues, such as risks to recovery (session 1), low-income country support to help with pandemic control and climate change responses (session 2), issues to improve international payment systems (session 3) and how to implement the global digital tax agreement (session 4).

 

Members recognized that the global recovery has been at a solid pace, but it remains “highly divergent across and within countries”, and is exposed to risks. To sustain the recovery and resolve uneven growth, participants agreed to work together to help low-income countries tackle the pandemic and respond to climate change.

 

DPM Hong made suggestions for the three sessions, and the following is a summary of the suggestions.

 

Summary of DPM Hong’s suggestions

 

To help the global economy fix the ‘fault line’ and achieve sustainable growth (session 1), we should

 

- Work on the ‘orderly restoration’ of world trade

- Continue with expansionary fiscal and monetary policies for a while before moving toward ‘orderly normalization’

- Pursue ‘orderly transition’ to a green and digital economy

 

With regard to global commons and low-income country assistance (session 2), DPM Hong suggested that we should

 

- Include in global commons our efforts to curb the pandemic, properly respond to climate change and help low-income countries

- Reinforce global health governance to increase pandemic response capabilities

- Elaborate the global-level climate change policies to make them most fit for an individual economic situation

- Support the IMF’s replenishing the PRGT[1] and launching a new RST[2]

 

For the new global digital tax to be successfully carried out (session 4), DPM Hong suggested that we should

 

- Draw up as soon as possible details necessary for the implementation of the global digital tax agreement, such as a multilateral treaty and models of optimal taxation

- Take fully into account industry-specific and country-specific situations

 

Attached:  Communiqué of fourth G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting, October 14, 2021