A few days after the G7, the G20 member states, meeting in Saudi Arabia, promised to act in due time to counter the consequences of the coronavirus on the economy. In a statement released Friday evening, finance ministers from the world's 20 most powerful economies, along with central bank governors, said they " fully supported countries' ongoing measures to contain the boom ", and that they were closely monitoring the development of the epidemic.
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However, like the last statement by the G7 ministers, the G20 does not call for the immediate implementation of certain specific measures to support the economy. These will have to intervene in due time, argue the decision-makers. " We are ready to take further measures, including fiscal and monetary measures [...] to support the economy during this phase and maintain the resilience of the financial system, " said the participants without giving further details. States also say they work in " close collaboration " with the IMF, the OECD and the WHO and promise " to use all the political tools available to achieve strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth, and to guard against downside risks ”.
In addition, countries say they are willing to " help developing countries cope with the impact of the epidemic ". A statement that comes the day after the announcement of a plan from the World Bank, which has put in place an emergency plan of 12 billion dollars to support the actions of countries aimed at stemming the evolution of the virus.
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The G20's measured response, which opens the door to measures without clearly announcing them, resembles that of the G7 in early March. Earlier this week, the seven largest world economies, including France, " reaffirmed " their commitment to " act, including taking budgetary measures if appropriate, to [...] support the economy ". For their part, central bank executives pledged to " support price stability and economic growth while maintaining the resilience of the financial system ". Similarly, the European Union has not yet decided to act massively to boost activity, preferring to wait to see the evolution of the virus.
An increasing number of institutions have nevertheless called on States to act as quickly as possible to limit the effects of the coronavirus on activity. This is particularly the case of the OECD, which is now counting on global growth of 2.4%, in a scenario of a limited epidemic, instead of the 2.9% expected so far. The organization called on nations to take the situation head on, taking advantage of the low interest rate environment to " strengthen demand in the short term ", including by putting in place " temporary expenses to amortize the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on vulnerable social groups and businesses ”.
For its part, the American central bank has already chosen to act, announcing this week an unexpected and brutal cut in its key rates. The Fed chose to act quickly, to counter the slowdown in activity. The following day, the IMF called on world leaders to do " more rather than not enough ".