The third Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting within the framework of Indonesia’s G20 Presidency kicked off in Nusa Dua, Badung, Bali, on July 15, 2022.
The meeting aimed to seek ways to promote better global economic recovery amid the issues or challenges that have become more apparent nowadays.
“G20 needs to (apply more measures) by taking real actions based on the spirit of coordination, collaboration, and consensus in order to solve global issues,” Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati delivered the statement during the opening of the meeting on Friday.
At the third FMCBG meeting, several delegations were physically present, thereby making it the one with the most number of physical attendees during the course of Indonesia’s presidency.
In total, 407 delegates were physically present in Bali, and 120 attended the event through virtual means. Some 19 finance ministers and 11 governors of Central Banks were also physically present.
The 19 finance ministers were from South Africa, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Australia, India, Indonesia, Italy, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Canada, France, Russia, Turkey, the European Union, the Netherlands, Senegal, Switzerland, and Ukraine.
The 11 governors of central banks that were invited were from South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Australia, the Netherlands, India, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, South Korea, and France.
The Indonesian G20 Presidency once more invited the finance minister of Ukraine, which is not a member of G20, to attend the meeting through virtual means.
Minister Indrawati stated that the presence of majority of the delegations from G20 member countries, guest nations, and international organizations demonstrated global commitment and willingness to support the Indonesian G20 Presidency as well as promote a sustainable economy, especially in the midst of global challenges.
Support recovery
Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Perry Warjiyo urged all G20 members to commit to work together to support global economic recovery in order to realize sustainable, balanced and inclusive world economy.
“It is important for us to stay focused on what we have planned to achieve this year,” Warjiyo remarked.
Such a focus, according to Warjiyo, will send a positive message to global community about the role and efforts of G20 to support recovery.
At the meeting, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors discussed five main topics, namely COVID-19 exit strategies for financial stability, climate-related financial risks, crypto assets, financial inclusion and digitization, and initiatives to address new data gaps.
On the issue of COVID-19 exit strategy for financial stability, Warjiyo said that the Financial Stability Board (FSB) continues to coordinate in dealing with financial regulatory and supervisory matters through COVID-19 response measures and monitoring developments to support global recovery and maintain financial stability.
“As mandated by the FMCBG meeting in February, the FSB has submitted an interim report on the COVID-19 exit strategy and setbacks in the financial sector. The report is outlining effective practices and providing policy recommendations in the financial sector to achieve a sustainable and inclusive equitable distribution of recovery,” he said.
Moreover, regarding climate-related financial risks, Warjiyo said that the G20 finance ministers and central bank heads were asked to provide views to accelerate the implementation of the roadmap that has been prepared by the FSB in order to overcome the financial risks of climate change.
On the issue of crypto assets, the G20 ministers and central bank heads were encouraged to seek strategies to promote a consistent regulatory and supervisory approach to crypto asset activities, which will be important as part of maintaining global financial stability.
Regarding financial inclusion and digitization, the G20 members discussed efforts on accelerating MSMEs access to financing through digital financial services that will encourage inclusive recovery and sustainable growth.
Warjiyo also pointed out a need for ways to overcome the risk of financial exclusion, especially for vulnerable and underserved groups.
Lastly, on the topic of initiatives to address new data gaps, the G20 members discussed efforts to increase data availability which covers environmental issues and the use of digitization.
Bridging Differences
At the FMCBG meeting, Minister Indrawati stated that Indonesia is committed to bridging various differences and becoming the main supporter of multilateralism in the G20 forum to strengthen collaboration to overcome various current global economic challenges.
“We want to be an honest liaison. Indonesia will tirelessly seek communications and consultations, so we can continue to build bridges to accommodate the differences,” the minister noted while opening the FMCBG meeting.
Indrawati on the first day of the meeting said that the differences in stances and outlooks in the forum should be regarded as a strength rather than an obstacle.
“The decisions of this forum will affect many countries around the world. Thus, I am certain that you (also) have realized that the global community is taking interest in this meeting,” she remarked.
The meeting discussed seven priority agendas, comprising the current situation and risks of the global economy, health issues, international financial architecture, financial issues, sustainable finance, infrastructure development, and international taxation.
Meanwhile, several issues that became part of the priority agenda are the impacts of the Russian-Ukraine conflict on global food, energy, and financial security.
On the second day of FMCBG meeting, Indrawati announced that all G20 members had agreed on the majority of the meeting results despite tensions over Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Indrawati conveyed that the meeting succeeded in agreeing on a number of initiatives, and successfully garnering support to overcome various global economic and financial problems.
“There are 14 paragraphs of the draft on the result of this two-days meeting. The majority of the results of the meeting were agreed upon by all members of the G20,” she said on her speech delivering the results of the meeting held at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center (BNDCC).
She mentioned that two paragraphs of the result draft containing different views of several G20 members, one of which was regarding the use of the word “war” on several issues.
Nevertheless, Indrawati argued that the result document from the meeting had represented the opinions of all G20 members regarding the seven priority agendas discussed at the 3rd FMCBG meeting.
“We call it (the difference) as an expression, a different view. In the results of the meeting, which is called the chair summary, most of the paragraphs support the issues that I previously mentioned,” she said.
Indonesia as the leader of the meeting is aware of the sensitive situation caused by Russia-Ukraine conflict, considering that two G20 strong countries, namely Russia and the United States — who supports Ukraine, are in opposite positions.
Indonesia and other G20 members, however, should still place the G20 as the world’s largest economic cooperation forum that has a long history of solving various global problems.
“All G20 members also agree to continue maintaining existing cooperation in the spirit of multilateralism,” she said.
Source: Antara News