US President Barack Obama today praised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for&nbsp;ushering &quot;bold&quot; tax reforms in India. 
 
The Indian parliament had cleared a landmark tax law named Goods and Services Tax in August. The law has been broadly lauded&nbsp;for simplifying India&#39;s taxation structure.&nbsp; 
 
Modi first met Obama briefly when they were onstage to pose for a family photograph at the G20 Summit venue in this eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. The two leaders had another opportunity to exchange views during an informal evening programme. 
 
Obama in his intervention during the G20 summit praised Modi for the recent tax reform as an example of &quot;bold policy&quot; in an otherwise &quot;difficult global economic scenario&quot;. 
 
Later, Modi said that more than just &quot;difficult conversations&quot; needed to be taken to tackle the economic downturn.&nbsp; 
 
China President Xi Jinping also sounded alarm about the current economic climate.

Rise in protectionist policies have pushed global economy to the brink, warned Xi Jinping on the first of the two-day G20 summit. 
 
Jinping stressed the need to come around to work towards righting the depressed global economy.&nbsp; 
 
The comments come a month after Australia stonewalled a Chinese bid of&nbsp;$7.7 billion&nbsp;to buy the country&#39;s biggest energy grid, a move perceived to be being protectionist in nature. 
 
&quot;Growth drivers from the previous round of technological progress are gradually fading, while a new round of technological and industrial revolution has yet to gain momentum,&quot; he said. 
 
Xi also asked the G20 nations to back the talk.&nbsp;&quot;We should turn the G20 group into an action team, instead of a talk shop,&quot; he said. 
 
Meanwhile, the security remained tight in Hangzhou to ensure the summit passed&nbsp;off&nbsp;incident-free.&nbsp;

Modi later stressed about the need to take tough decisions to tide over the current global economic crisis

US President Barack Obama today praised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for ushering "bold" tax reforms in India. The Indian parliament had cleared a landmark tax law named Goods and Services Tax in August. The law has been broadly lauded for simplifying India's taxation structure. Modi first met Obama briefly when they were onstage to pose for a family photograph at the G20 Summit venue in this eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. The two leaders had another opportunity to exchange views during an informal evening programme. Obama in his intervention during the G20 summit praised Modi for the recent tax reform as an example of "bold policy" in an otherwise "difficult global economic scenario". Later, Modi said that more than just "difficult conversations" needed to be taken to tackle the economic downturn. China President Xi Jinping also sounded alarm about the current economic climate. Rise in protectionist policies have pushed global economy to the brink, warned Xi Jinping on the first of the two-day G20 summit. Jinping stressed the need to come around to work towards righting the depressed global economy. The comments come a month after Australia stonewalled a Chinese bid of $7.7 billion to buy the country's biggest energy grid, a move perceived to be being protectionist in nature. "Growth drivers from the previous round of technological progress are gradually fading, while a new round of technological and industrial revolution has yet to gain momentum," he said. Xi also asked the G20 nations to back the talk. "We should turn the G20 group into an action team, instead of a talk shop," he said. Meanwhile, the security remained tight in Hangzhou to ensure the summit passed off incident-free.

Obama lauds India PM Narendra Modi for ushering 'bold' tax reforms

Britain&#39;s new finance minister Philip Hammond, under pressure from his peers from around the world, said today there could be more clarity later this year on how the country will exit the European Union. 
 
Several nations called on Britain during weekend talks on the world economy to explain how the politically fraught Brexit process will unfold in order to avoid adding a new drag on the long and slow recovery from the financial crisis. 
 
&quot;It&#39;s right at the top of the agenda here at the G20,&quot; Hammond said at the end of the two-day meeting of the Group of 20 leading economies in the Chinese city of Chengdu. &quot;It&#39;s a new factor affecting the global economic outlook and it has increased the uncertainty which the world economy faces.&quot; 
 
Britain was plunged into its biggest political crisis in decades by the June 23 Brexit vote and so far it has resisted calls from some other EU countries to trigger quickly the two-year process for negotiating its exit from the bloc. 
 
Prime Minister Theresa May, who has been in her job for less than two weeks, traveled to Germany and France last week to explain why she needed time to come up with an exit strategy. 
 
The EU&#39;s top economic official, Pierre Moscovici, said the bloc understood that Britain should not be rushed but &quot;at the same time let&#39;s not waste time, let&#39;s not have too much uncertainty, let&#39;s act and choose as swiftly as possible.&quot; 
 
Hammond told reporters today the two-year negotiating period, once launched, represented &quot;quite a tight timescale&quot; and Britain needed to go into it with clear objectives. &quot;We have to do that before the start of the process because when we serve that notice, we need to hit the ground running,&quot; he said. 
 
But Hammond also showed he was aware of the need for some clarity on Brexit: &quot;What will start to reduce uncertainty is when we are able to set out more clearly the kind of arrangement we envisage going forward with the European Union.&quot; 
 
&quot;If our European Union partners respond to such a vision positively - obviously it will be subject to negotiation - so that there is a sense perhaps later this year that we are all on the same page in terms of where we expect to be going, I think that will send a reassuring signal to the business community and to markets,&quot; Hammond said. 
 
May has said she does not plan to launch the formal negotiation period this year. It remains to be seen if other EU countries would enter informal talks with Britain before the formal negotiations, something they have previously ruled out. 
 
Govt, Bank of England have to be ready 
 
Financial markets have stabilised after the initial shock of the referendum result which saw the value of the pound plunge by more than 10 per cent and trillions of dollars wiped off stock markets worldwide. But economists are expecting Britain to fall into a recession, according to a Reuters poll. 
 
Hammond said he did not think that a survey of British businesses published on Friday, which showed the sharpest fall on record in a purchasing managers index, was a sign that the economy was in already in a recession. 
 
&quot;What it does is underscore the hit to confidence,&quot; he said. 
 
Hammond warned that Brexit-related volatility in markets would be a risk throughout the two-year negotiation period. 
 
&quot;We have to be ready as government, the Bank of England has to be ready as monetary authority, throughout that period to respond to any instability created by that uncertainty and to ensure that the economy continues to operate smoothly,&quot; he said. 
 
The BoE is expected to cut interest rates and possibly announce more stimulus measures on August 4. Hammond has said he could ease fiscal policy in the autumn if more help is needed. 
 
Asked about a comment he made on Friday, that he might &quot;reset&quot; fiscal policy to cope with the Brexit fallout, Hammond said Britain&#39;s still high levels of debt meant it needed a new framework on its public finances to give clarity to markets. 
 
&quot;What that framework will look like will depend on the decisions we make about whether or not any fiscal stimulus is required on the basis of the data we will by then have available,&quot; he said. 
 
(Reuters)

Britain's finance minister accepted the need for some clarity on Brexit, said it's at the top of agenda at the G20

Britain's new finance minister Philip Hammond, under pressure from his peers from around the world, said today there could be more clarity later this year on how the country will exit the European Union. Several nations called on Britain during weekend talks on the world economy to explain how the politically fraught Brexit process will unfold in order to avoid adding a new drag on the long and slow recovery from the financial crisis. "It's right at the top of the agenda here at the G20," Hammond said at the end of the two-day meeting of the Group of 20 leading economies in the Chinese city of Chengdu. "It's a new factor affecting the global economic outlook and it has increased the uncertainty which the world economy faces." Britain was plunged into its biggest political crisis in decades by the June 23 Brexit vote and so far it has resisted calls from some other EU countries to trigger quickly the two-year process for negotiating its exit from the bloc. Prime Minister Theresa May, who has been in her job for less than two weeks, traveled to Germany and France last week to explain why she needed time to come up with an exit strategy. The EU's top economic official, Pierre Moscovici, said the bloc understood that Britain should not be rushed but "at the same time let's not waste time, let's not have too much uncertainty, let's act and choose as swiftly as possible." Hammond told reporters today the two-year negotiating period, once launched, represented "quite a tight timescale" and Britain needed to go into it with clear objectives. "We have to do that before the start of the process because when we serve that notice, we need to hit the ground running," he said. But Hammond also showed he was aware of the need for some clarity on Brexit: "What will start to reduce uncertainty is when we are able to set out more clearly the kind of arrangement we envisage going forward with the European Union." "If our European Union partners respond to such a vision positively - obviously it will be subject to negotiation - so that there is a sense perhaps later this year that we are all on the same page in terms of where we expect to be going, I think that will send a reassuring signal to the business community and to markets," Hammond said. May has said she does not plan to launch the formal negotiation period this year. It remains to be seen if other EU countries would enter informal talks with Britain before the formal negotiations, something they have previously ruled out. Govt, Bank of England have to be ready Financial markets have stabilised after the initial shock of the referendum result which saw the value of the pound plunge by more than 10 per cent and trillions of dollars wiped off stock markets worldwide. But economists are expecting Britain to fall into a recession, according to a Reuters poll. Hammond said he did not think that a survey of British businesses published on Friday, which showed the sharpest fall on record in a purchasing managers index, was a sign that the economy was in already in a recession. "What it does is underscore the hit to confidence," he said. Hammond warned that Brexit-related volatility in markets would be a risk throughout the two-year negotiation period. "We have to be ready as government, the Bank of England has to be ready as monetary authority, throughout that period to respond to any instability created by that uncertainty and to ensure that the economy continues to operate smoothly," he said. The BoE is expected to cut interest rates and possibly announce more stimulus measures on August 4. Hammond has said he could ease fiscal policy in the autumn if more help is needed. Asked about a comment he made on Friday, that he might "reset" fiscal policy to cope with the Brexit fallout, Hammond said Britain's still high levels of debt meant it needed a new framework on its public finances to give clarity to markets. "What that framework will look like will depend on the decisions we make about whether or not any fiscal stimulus is required on the basis of the data we will by then have available," he said. (Reuters)

UK seeks to assuage global worries over path to Brexit

Britain&#39;s vote to leave the European Union heightened risks for the world economy, finance chiefs from the G20 group of leading countries said on Sunday at a meeting in China. 
 
The outcome of last month&#39;s referendum &quot;adds to the uncertainty in the global economy&quot;, said China&#39;s finance minister Lou Jiwei, who hosted the meeting. 
 
But he added that EU member countries were &quot;well positioned to proactively address the potential economic and financial consequences stemming from the UK referendum&quot;.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned risks to the global economy are growing, as it called on some G20 nations to boost government spending.

Central bank chiefs and finance ministers from the world&#39;s top 20 economies gathered in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu on Saturday to tackle a slowing global economy facing new uncertainties with Britain voting to leave the European Union (EU).

&quot;Global growth remains weak, and downside risks have become more salient,&quot; the IMF said in a report released ahead of the G20 meeting.

&quot;Growth could be even lower if the current increases in economic and political uncertainty in the wake of the &#39;Brexit&#39; vote continue.&quot;

The IMF wants advanced economies like Germany and the United States to channel more public spending into infrastructure investment to help boost global growth, an issue that has sparked divisions among G20 members.

&quot;Reforms that facilitate the scaling up of infrastructure investment would help raise productive capacity, boost short-term demand directly, and catalyse private investment,&quot; it said.
(AFP) 
 
&nbsp;

The IMF has called on some advanced economies like Germany and the US to channel more public spending to help boost global growth

Britain's vote to leave the European Union heightened risks for the world economy, finance chiefs from the G20 group of leading countries said on Sunday at a meeting in China. The outcome of last month's referendum "adds to the uncertainty in the global economy", said China's finance minister Lou Jiwei, who hosted the meeting. But he added that EU member countries were "well positioned to proactively address the potential economic and financial consequences stemming from the UK referendum". The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned risks to the global economy are growing, as it called on some G20 nations to boost government spending. Central bank chiefs and finance ministers from the world's top 20 economies gathered in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu on Saturday to tackle a slowing global economy facing new uncertainties with Britain voting to leave the European Union (EU). "Global growth remains weak, and downside risks have become more salient," the IMF said in a report released ahead of the G20 meeting. "Growth could be even lower if the current increases in economic and political uncertainty in the wake of the 'Brexit' vote continue." The IMF wants advanced economies like Germany and the United States to channel more public spending into infrastructure investment to help boost global growth, an issue that has sparked divisions among G20 members. "Reforms that facilitate the scaling up of infrastructure investment would help raise productive capacity, boost short-term demand directly, and catalyse private investment," it said. (AFP)

G20: Brexit adding uncertainty to slowing global economy

The world`s top 20 economies will work to boost sluggish global trade despite growing protectionism, overcapacity concerns, and uncertainty over Brexit, G20 trade ministers said today at a meeting in Shanghai. 
 
&quot;The global recovery continues, but it remains uneven and falls short of our ambition for strong, sustainable and balanced growth. Downside risks and vulnerabilities persist,&quot; the trade ministers said in a joint statement, adding that trade should remain &quot;an important engine&quot; to spur global growth. 
 
Protectionism has been rising, G20 nations acknowledge&nbsp; 
 
The G20 nations, which account for 85 per cent of global trade, admitted that protectionism has been rising since the financial crisis, and said that new trade restrictions in the group had reached the highest monthly average registered since the&nbsp;World Trade Organisation (WTO) began monitoring in 2009. 
 
&quot;We note with concern that despite the G20&#39;s repeated pledge, the stock of restrictive measure affecting trade in goods and services has continued to rise,&quot; they said in the statement. 
 
Ahead of the meeting, WTO chief economist Robert Koopman warned that restrictive measures could affect industries including air freight cargo, sea based cargo, automobile sales and production, electronics trade, and agricultural raw materials. 
 
The world&#39;s leading economies over the weekend pledged to oppose trade protectionism and reiterated a promise not to add new protective measures until 2018. 
 
Global trade governance to be improve to combat slowdown 
 
Pertinent to mention that global trade is expected to grow at a tepid 2.8 per cent in 2016, the WTO had said in April. 
 
And this year is expected to be the fifth in a row where trade grew at less than three per cent, its weakest sustained level in 30 years, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo said on Friday ahead of the talks. 
 
To combat the global slowdown, the ministers said they agreed to improve global trade governance and to work towards easing and liberalising trade.Concerns over China&#39;s production overcapacity in steel have led to trade disputes with the EU and US, and China`s vice commerce minister Wang Shouwen said today that the G20 economies &quot;have realised the necessity to take global cooperation to handle the challenge caused by production overcapacity&quot;. 
 
But despite claims that China is dumping steel in foreign markets, he said &quot;China&#39;s effort in (handling) over capacity has been highly recognised&quot; by the group. 
 
&quot;While some other countries are talking about how to cut down production, Chinese government has already taken measures which have been effective.&quot; 
 
Meanwhile Britain&#39;s referendum vote to leave the European Union (EU) has added new concerns for the recovery of global economic and trade growth. 
 
&quot;Britain leaving the European Union will definitely have some impact on global trade, especially short-term investment,&quot; China&#39;s Wang commented today. 
 
Britain&#39;s trade minister Mark Price told the Financial Times in Beijing ahead of the weekend talk that tariffs would jump to an average level of at least three per cent after its exit from the EU. 
 
He said it&#39;s time to &quot;start exploring options&quot; on trade agreements and &quot;China is making very positive noises at the moment&quot;, the report said. 
 
(AFP)

Britain's referendum vote to leave the European Union has added new concerns for the recovery of global economic and trade growth

The world`s top 20 economies will work to boost sluggish global trade despite growing protectionism, overcapacity concerns, and uncertainty over Brexit, G20 trade ministers said today at a meeting in Shanghai. "The global recovery continues, but it remains uneven and falls short of our ambition for strong, sustainable and balanced growth. Downside risks and vulnerabilities persist," the trade ministers said in a joint statement, adding that trade should remain "an important engine" to spur global growth. Protectionism has been rising, G20 nations acknowledge The G20 nations, which account for 85 per cent of global trade, admitted that protectionism has been rising since the financial crisis, and said that new trade restrictions in the group had reached the highest monthly average registered since the World Trade Organisation (WTO) began monitoring in 2009. "We note with concern that despite the G20's repeated pledge, the stock of restrictive measure affecting trade in goods and services has continued to rise," they said in the statement. Ahead of the meeting, WTO chief economist Robert Koopman warned that restrictive measures could affect industries including air freight cargo, sea based cargo, automobile sales and production, electronics trade, and agricultural raw materials. The world's leading economies over the weekend pledged to oppose trade protectionism and reiterated a promise not to add new protective measures until 2018. Global trade governance to be improve to combat slowdown Pertinent to mention that global trade is expected to grow at a tepid 2.8 per cent in 2016, the WTO had said in April. And this year is expected to be the fifth in a row where trade grew at less than three per cent, its weakest sustained level in 30 years, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo said on Friday ahead of the talks. To combat the global slowdown, the ministers said they agreed to improve global trade governance and to work towards easing and liberalising trade.Concerns over China's production overcapacity in steel have led to trade disputes with the EU and US, and China`s vice commerce minister Wang Shouwen said today that the G20 economies "have realised the necessity to take global cooperation to handle the challenge caused by production overcapacity". But despite claims that China is dumping steel in foreign markets, he said "China's effort in (handling) over capacity has been highly recognised" by the group. "While some other countries are talking about how to cut down production, Chinese government has already taken measures which have been effective." Meanwhile Britain's referendum vote to leave the European Union (EU) has added new concerns for the recovery of global economic and trade growth. "Britain leaving the European Union will definitely have some impact on global trade, especially short-term investment," China's Wang commented today. Britain's trade minister Mark Price told the Financial Times in Beijing ahead of the weekend talk that tariffs would jump to an average level of at least three per cent after its exit from the EU. He said it's time to "start exploring options" on trade agreements and "China is making very positive noises at the moment", the report said. (AFP)

G20 nations pledge to boost sluggish global trade

New issues including innovation, digitisation and investment rules will figure at the three-day meet of G20 Sherpas at Xiamen in China beginning June 23, which will be attended by National Institute of Transforming India Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya. 
 
This will be the third meeting of Sherpas under the Presidency of China and will prepare a broad agenda for discussion for the G20 Summit to held at Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang Province on China&#39;s southeastern coast. 
 
&quot;Among the new issues China has brought to the table under its G20 Presidency are the role of innovation, digitisation and new industrial revolution in growth and guidelines on investment rules,&quot; Panagariya told PTI. 
 
Besides, he said the regular issues such as climate change, trade and energy will also be discussed at the meet. 
 
The meet will also discuss the global economic situation and review the progress on preparation for Hangzhou Sumit to be held in September this year. 
 
The other issue which will come up for detailed deliberation are anti-corruption, counter terrorism financing, refugee crisis and AMR (Antimicrobial resistance). 
 
According to World Health Organisation, antimicrobial resistance threatens the effective prevention and treatment of an ever-increasing range of infections caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses and fungi. 
 
It is an increasingly serious threat to public health that requires action across all government sectors and society. 
 
Earlier before Sherpas meet at Beijing in January, Panagariya had said India will push for poverty alleviation and sustainable development besides trade and investment at the G20 forum. 
 
India intends to eliminate poverty by 2030. It wants to boost trade and investment as these are instruments of eliminating poverty. 
 
G20 members include G8 countries, namely, the US, Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Canada and Russia; and the 11 emerging and developing countries, namely, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, South Africa and Turkey; and the EU. 
 
(PTI)

The other issues which will come up for detailed deliberation are corruption, counter-terrorism financing and refugee crisis

New issues including innovation, digitisation and investment rules will figure at the three-day meet of G20 Sherpas at Xiamen in China beginning June 23, which will be attended by National Institute of Transforming India Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya. This will be the third meeting of Sherpas under the Presidency of China and will prepare a broad agenda for discussion for the G20 Summit to held at Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang Province on China's southeastern coast. "Among the new issues China has brought to the table under its G20 Presidency are the role of innovation, digitisation and new industrial revolution in growth and guidelines on investment rules," Panagariya told PTI. Besides, he said the regular issues such as climate change, trade and energy will also be discussed at the meet. The meet will also discuss the global economic situation and review the progress on preparation for Hangzhou Sumit to be held in September this year. The other issue which will come up for detailed deliberation are anti-corruption, counter terrorism financing, refugee crisis and AMR (Antimicrobial resistance). According to World Health Organisation, antimicrobial resistance threatens the effective prevention and treatment of an ever-increasing range of infections caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses and fungi. It is an increasingly serious threat to public health that requires action across all government sectors and society. Earlier before Sherpas meet at Beijing in January, Panagariya had said India will push for poverty alleviation and sustainable development besides trade and investment at the G20 forum. India intends to eliminate poverty by 2030. It wants to boost trade and investment as these are instruments of eliminating poverty. G20 members include G8 countries, namely, the US, Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Canada and Russia; and the 11 emerging and developing countries, namely, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, South Africa and Turkey; and the EU. (PTI)

Innovation and investment rules among others to be discussed in G20 Sherpas meet

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Obama lauds India PM Narendra Modi for ushering 'bold' tax reforms

UK seeks to assuage global worries over path to Brexit

G20: Brexit adding uncertainty to slowing global economy

G20 nations pledge to boost sluggish global trade

Innovation and investment rules among others to be discussed in G20 Sherpas meet