Yellen says Ukraine aid is the best boost for global economy
Published: 04:07 PM,Jul 16,2023 | EDITED : 08:07 PM,Jul 16,2023
GANDHIAGAR: Redoubling support for war-stricken Ukraine is the 'single best' way to aid the global economy, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Sunday, along with boosting emerging economies and tackling debt distress.
Yellen also said on the sidelines of a G20 finance ministers' summit in India she would 'push back' on criticism there was a tradeoff between aid to Ukraine and developing nations.
'Ending this war is first and foremost a moral imperative,' she told reporters in Gandhinagar. 'But it's also the single best thing we can do for the global economy.'
Yellen also pointed to efforts to tackle debt distress faced by struggling economies, bank reform and a global tax deal, and warned it was 'premature' to talk of lifting tariffs on China.
Russia's war of Ukraine, both global breadbaskets that together exported almost a quarter of the world's wheat supply, triggered shockwaves in economies worldwide by sending prices for food and fuel shooting up.
Japan's Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki, speaking after a G7 meeting of ministers, 'reconfirmed the G7's unshakeable support' to Ukraine.
'We confirmed that Russia-owned assets that are under the G7's supervision would not be transferred until Russia pays damages to Ukraine,' Suzuki said, adding that Moscow should also 'pay long-term reconstruction costs'.
Any discussion on Ukraine is awkward for G20 host India, which has not condemned Russia's attack but is also part of the Quad grouping alongside Australia, the United States and Japan.
Yellen also cited debt restructuring progress in Zambia, which she discussed with Chinese officials in Beijing last week, and said she expected Ghana and Sri Lanka debt treatments would be finalised soon.
'Tariffs were put in place because we had concerns with unfair trade practices on China's side, and our concerns with those practices remain, they really haven't been addressed,' Yellen said.
'Perhaps over time this is an area where we could make progress, but I'd say it is premature to use this as an area for de-escalation.'
More than half of all low-income countries are near or in debt distress, double the case in 2015, she said.
G20 finance chiefs and central bank heads are due to meet on Monday and Tuesday in Gandhinagar in Gujarat, the state where India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi was born. — AFP
Yellen also said on the sidelines of a G20 finance ministers' summit in India she would 'push back' on criticism there was a tradeoff between aid to Ukraine and developing nations.
'Ending this war is first and foremost a moral imperative,' she told reporters in Gandhinagar. 'But it's also the single best thing we can do for the global economy.'
Yellen also pointed to efforts to tackle debt distress faced by struggling economies, bank reform and a global tax deal, and warned it was 'premature' to talk of lifting tariffs on China.
Russia's war of Ukraine, both global breadbaskets that together exported almost a quarter of the world's wheat supply, triggered shockwaves in economies worldwide by sending prices for food and fuel shooting up.
Japan's Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki, speaking after a G7 meeting of ministers, 'reconfirmed the G7's unshakeable support' to Ukraine.
'We confirmed that Russia-owned assets that are under the G7's supervision would not be transferred until Russia pays damages to Ukraine,' Suzuki said, adding that Moscow should also 'pay long-term reconstruction costs'.
Any discussion on Ukraine is awkward for G20 host India, which has not condemned Russia's attack but is also part of the Quad grouping alongside Australia, the United States and Japan.
Yellen also cited debt restructuring progress in Zambia, which she discussed with Chinese officials in Beijing last week, and said she expected Ghana and Sri Lanka debt treatments would be finalised soon.
'Tariffs were put in place because we had concerns with unfair trade practices on China's side, and our concerns with those practices remain, they really haven't been addressed,' Yellen said.
'Perhaps over time this is an area where we could make progress, but I'd say it is premature to use this as an area for de-escalation.'
More than half of all low-income countries are near or in debt distress, double the case in 2015, she said.
G20 finance chiefs and central bank heads are due to meet on Monday and Tuesday in Gandhinagar in Gujarat, the state where India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi was born. — AFP