Group of Seven nations are drafting a statement outlining a plan to soften the economic hit of the coronavirus but which so far excludes direct calls for new government spending or coordinated central bank rate cuts, a G7 official said Tuesday.
In the statement, expected on Tuesday or Wednesday, G7 countries will pledge to work together to mitigate the damage to their economies from the fast-spreading epidemic, the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The news disappointed financial markets, which are hoping for more explicit measures of support by the seven major industrial powers. U.S. stock futures slipped into negative territory and the dollar gave up earlier gains against the safe-haven Japanese yen.