The Feb. 9 meeting of the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank chiefs — the first one held in Tokyo in eight years — adopted a statement recognizing that the global economy is facing more challenging and uncertain circumstances.
The statement underlined the G7's commitment to surveilling global economic conditions and ensuring stability and growth, while calling for either concerted or individual actions by the G7 members.
But the meeting failed to produce any agreement on immediate steps — an outcome that revealed just how tightly the hands of the G7 nations have been tied.