G-8 Upbeat on Global Economy

Finance ministers from the world’s most industrialized nations were upbeat Saturday about the global economy despite jitters over rising interest rates and tumbling stock prices.

The Group of 8 ministers’ final statement focused on the dangers of galloping oil prices and “widening” global imbalances. But it did not mention interest rate increases in several countries and recent declines on world markets. And ministers later brushed aside fears of economic turbulence.

“As we look around the global economy today, we see no major crises, no major economies in recession. We see strong growth, inflation well-contained, interest rates at the low end of the historic level and rising prosperity,” U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow said at a news conference.

The ministers’ statement made no direct reference to the U.S. trade deficit but recognized that tackling global imbalances was a “shared responsibility.”

French Finance Minister Thierry Breton said that inflation was “clearly under control” and that recent European Central Bank interest rate increases were in fact a vote of confidence in the European economy.

German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said, “People might try to point up certain risks and say the glass is half-empty, but the fact is that the world economic situation is very stable.”

But Japanese Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki sounded a note of caution, saying that recent stock price drops were a “major economic indicator.”

The statement for the first time contained a reference to the Energy Charter -- a pact Russia has yet to ratify that is aimed at creating more predictable market conditions. Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Moscow was still not happy with the document because it did not refer to nuclear energy, it needed revision of transit regulations and its investment clauses were out of date.

The main statement saluted the role of emerging economies such as Russia, China and Brazil in funding development projects in the world’s poorest nations.