A group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors met in Indonesia on Friday for talks on the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the host warning them that failure to deal with energy and food crises would be catastrophic.
The two-day meeting on the resort island of Bali began in the shadow of a war that has roiled markets, pushed up food prices and fueled breakneck inflation, a week after Moscow’s top diplomat ended talks with the forum’s foreign ministers.
In her opening speech, Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati urged ministers to work together in a spirit of “cooperation” because “the world is looking for solutions”.
“The cost of our failure is more than we can afford,” she told delegates. “The humanitarian consequences for the world and for many low-income countries would be catastrophic.”
Global finance leaders, including US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, were due to discuss the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, but the war in Ukraine and its impact on an already fragile global recovery has dominated the agenda.
Canada’s Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who has Ukrainian roots, told the Russian delegation they were responsible for “war crimes” in Ukraine because of their support for the invasion, a Canadian official said.
“It’s not just generals who commit war crimes, it’s the economic technocrats who allow the war to happen and continue,” Freeland said at the opening session, according to the official.
Both Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Ukraine Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko will attend the meeting virtually.
Instead, Moscow sent Russian Deputy Finance Minister Timur Maksimov and Bank of Russia official Elizaveta Danilova to personally attend the talks.
Freeland went on to say the war is “the single biggest threat” to the global economy right now, according to the official, echoing Yellen’s comments a day earlier.
Yellen called Russia’s war in Ukraine the “biggest challenge” to the global economy and said members of Putin’s government had “no place” at the talks.
After the Russian delegation spoke ahead of the meeting, a Western official told AFP Moscow did not personally send its finance minister or central bank governor “following the very direct criticism” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov faced at talks in Bali last week.
– No strike –
The meeting largely focused on the food and energy crises hitting economies around the world as a result of the war.
Italian Economy Minister Daniele Franco addressed ministers with the message that they “play a key role in preventing food insecurity from becoming a humanitarian crisis,” according to an Italian official.
Yellen is urging G20 allies to put a price cap on Russian oil to choke off President Vladimir Putin’s war chest and pressure Moscow to end its invasion while cutting energy bills.
Yellen led a multinational strike by finance officials in April as Russian delegates spoke at a G20 meeting in Washington.
But there was no strike on Friday, after Yellen had not been drawn on a possible repeat of this joint action a day earlier.
It is also unlikely that there will be a final communiqué after talks conclude on Saturday due to disagreements with Russia.
– ‘acting together’ –
G20 leader Indonesia – which pursues a neutral foreign policy – has refrained from inviting Russia, despite Western pressure
“This is not an easy time given our diverse membership… and also the differences in our positions and views,” said Indrawati.
“We must act together to show why the G20 deserves its reputation as the leading forum for international cooperation.”
But it was difficult to get all parties to one table in person.
In addition to the ministers from Moscow and Kyiv, the Chinese Finance Minister Liu Kun and the new British Finance Minister Nadhim Zahawi were only present virtually.
International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva will appear in person after saying on Wednesday the global economic outlook had “deteriorated significantly” because of the Moscow invasion.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is attending virtually, but World Bank Chief Executive David Malpass will not be attending.
The meeting is a prelude to the leaders’ summit on the Indonesian island in November, which was set to focus on the global recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Other issues addressed by ministers included digital financial inclusion – with more than a billion people around the world still without access to a bank account – and the deadline for an overhaul of international tax rules.
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