PRESS RELEASE
Li Keqiang Urges World Economy Leaders To Collaborate To Deal with Financial Fluctuations; Jack Lew Says, No Need
July 22, 2016 (EIRNS)—On the eve of the G20 Finance Ministers meeting July 23-24 in Chengdu, China, Prime Minister Li Keqiang today addressed a briefing in Beijing, with heads of six world economic agencies (World Trade Organization, International Labor Organization, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Financial Stability Board, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund), who will attend the weekend deliberations. Li called on them to attend to the present global financial fluctuations, which are further exacerbated by Britain’s exit from the European Union. "It is impossible to carry all of the burden of the whole world on our shoulders," said Li, after meeting the heads of the organizations. Li called for cooperation among nations and agencies.
Paying little attention to the financial crisis that Premier Li referred to, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, speaking to reporters in Athens before flying to Chengdu, downplayed the likelihood of joint action.
"I don’t think this is a moment that calls for the kind of coordinated action that occurred during the Great Recession in 2008 and 2009. It really is a moment where we each need to do what we can to ensure that where growth is soft it gets stronger and that prospects for the medium- and long-term are improved,"
Lew said, according to Associated Press.
In Beijing, Li also spoke of China. According to FMT, the Indonesian news agency, Li pointed out the "sound fundamentals of China’s economy despite facing strong downward pressures." Li said that, his "government’s debt ratio was not high". Nonetheless, Beijing would "step up regulation of the shadow banking sector and monitor local government fiscal practices," Li added, Reuters reported. "We will maintain a basically stable exchange rate at a balanced level and we will not engage in a trade or currency war," he added.
