Group of Seven financial leaders said in a joint statement Saturday here that they will take individual and collective action to secure stability and growth of world economy amid worries stemming from the U.S. subprime crisis.
"We stand ready to take any further action necessary to enhance stability in the financial markets," the G7 finance ministers and central bank chiefs said in a statement released after a one-day gathering in Tokyo.
The financial chiefs noted that the global economy is facing growing uncertainties, saying, "The world confronts a more challenging and uncertain environment than when we met in last October."
"In the United States, output and employment growth have slowed considerably and risks have become more skewed to the downside," the statement said, noting that economic growth in all G7 nations are expected to slow down in the short-term.
However, the financial leaders said that the fundamentals of the world economy as a whole "remain solid."
At a press conference after the meeting, the U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said that the U.S. economy is expected to grow in 2008, though at a slower pace. He also showed confidence on the long-term health of U.S. economy.
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet also said that the economic fundamentals are sound in Europe.
The finance ministers and central bank governors from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States said in the statement that they will "continue to watch developments closely and will continue to take appropriate actions, individually and collectively, in order to secure stability and growth in our economies."
The statement urged financial institutions to disclose their losses related with the troubled U.S. housing sector. "We emphasize, in particular the importance of promoting prompt and full disclosure by financial institutions of their losses and of valuation of structured products," it said.
At the meeting held at the Japanese Foreign Ministry's conference hall, the leaders also called on the organization of petroleum exporting countries (OPEC) to raise their production to ease the soaring crude oil price.
Source: Xinhua
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