G20 finance chiefs gather to tackle global crisis
Finance ministers and central bankers from the world's top economies meet in Paris this weekend to strengthen the faltering global economy and protect ailing banks from Europe's ballooning debt crisis.
At a briefing ahead of the G20 meeting of finance ministers tomorrow and Saturday, a French official said the top priority would be to tackle the euro zone financial crisis.
"The G20 is taking place in a context where the absolute priority is to find solutions to stabilise the euro zone," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The euro zone is "the epicentre of the global crisis," the official said, adding: "If we cannot stabilise the euro zone, we will face problems in the months to come."
The Paris meeting comes as euro zone leaders race to finalise a response to the bloc's debt crisis, with plans to shore up banks threatened by the debt troubles plaguing the single currency area.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou was holding talks with EU president Herman Van Rompuy in Brussels today, as the euro zone waited for Slovakia to finally back a rescue fund aimed at solving the crisis.
EU leaders had pressed for a new vote in the wake of warnings from the US and China for Europe to get its house in order quickly for the sake of a weakening global economy.
France holds the rotating presidency of the G20 group of leading economies and the French official said today that measures proposed at the weekend will be brought to the G20 summit in Cannes in the first week of November.
He said states with sufficient revenue to stimulate recovery should be asked to do so, while France and some others "concentrate on consolidating budgets." France hopes the finance ministers' meeting will also come up with proposals on a code of conduct for managing capital flows, the official said.
An agreement on a calendar for the convertibility of the Chinese currency, the yuan, would also be "ideal" ahead of the summit in Cannes on November 3-4, the official said.
Moving quickly on the euro zone crisis will be key as the official said exposed banks will probably be forced to write off more Greek debt than the 21% proposed in a July accord on a second bail-out for Athens.
