Britain and France's finance ministers are playing down talk of a transatlantic rift on fighting the credit crisis, as they and colleagues met to prepare for next month's vital G20 summit.
Ministers from the Group of 20 industrialised and emerging market countries hold talks officially starting tomorrow ahead of a summit of world leaders including new US President Barack Obama in London on 2 April.
‘I think on both sides of the Atlantic and also, for that matter, in other parts of the world there is a commitment to ensure that we support people, support businesses and our economies,’ British finance minister Alistair Darling, told BBC radio.
While the US, the world's biggest economy, wants a co-ordinated international stimulus, most of Europe is suspicious of such a move and favours tightening regulation of financial markets and institutions.
In a boost for the US, Japan and China, the world's second and third largest economic powerhouses, have also embraced a co-ordinated stimulus idea.
Senior US officials including President Barack Obama's top economic adviser Larry Summers have recently said leading nations must try to jumpstart a global recovery by pumping more money into their economies.
But that has not been welcomed in Europe, where many leaders do not want more spending amid big budget deficits.
France and Germany have agreed to join forces to urge tighter regulation instead of more spending.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said: ‘We do not think much of the idea of a new package of measures’ to underpin the economy.
There was some good news for France and Germany on regulation today as Switzerland, Luxembourg and Austria said they would relax their sensitive bank secrecy laws, the day after similar moves by Belgium, Liechtenstein and Andorra. Monaco also intimated it would follow suit.
Berlin and Paris have been leading the charge to clamp down on tax havens.
China and Japan, meanwhile, embraced further spending to fight the economic fire.
Japan's premier Taro Aso ordered a new stimulus package worth a reported $200bn, while China's Wen Jiabao said Beijing had ‘adequate ammunition which means that at any time we can introduce new stimulus policies.’
World Bank head Robert Zoellick, who is also attending the meeting, warned that ‘2009 is shaping up to be a very dangerous year’ for the global economy.
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, arriving for the talks, said she was ‘very optimistic’ about the meeting, stressing it was a question of finding ‘the best compromise between our different positions.’
