By Leika Kihara
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Finance leaders of the Group of Seven advanced economies said on Wednesday they will closely monitor “recent volatility” in markets, and reaffirmed their commitment that excessive exchange-rate moves were undesirable.
“Recognising that many currencies have moved significantly this year with increased volatility, we reaffirm our exchange rate commitments as elaborated in May 2017,” the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors said in a statement released by the U.S. Treasury Department.
The G7 finance leaders met on Wednesday on the sidelines of the G20 and International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings held in Washington this week.
Under the commitment agreed on May 2017, the G7 agreed that excess volatility and disorderly currency moves have negative impacts on their economies and financial stability.
Japan has been pushing hard to include a warning on recent currency moves in the G7 statement, as it struggles to address the yen’s slide to 24-year lows against the dollar.
In the statement, the G7 also said the group’s central banks are “strongly committed” to achieving price stability and closely monitoring the impact of price pressures on inflation expectations.
The G7 will “continue to appropriately calibrate the pace of monetary policy tightening in a data-dependent and clearly communicated manner, ensuring that inflation expectations remain well anchored, while being mindful to limit the impact on economic activity and cross-country spillovers,” the statement said.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Josie Kao)
