Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 member countries pointed out in their communique last week that growth in the global economy remains uneven and that recovery is slow in the eurozone and Japan, while also noting the slowdown taking place in emerging economies.
Japan and other countries need to acknowledge that the global economy as a whole remains weak, with only the United States doing well among the developed nations. Japan should carefully consider what policies to pursue to put itself on a path of stable recovery while paying close attention to the situation abroad, including the divergent policy directions taken by the main economic players.
In the Istanbul meeting, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew stressed that America alone cannot serve as an engine for global growth and called on Germany to expand domestic demand through fiscal means to underpin Europe's recovery. But Germany rejected the idea, with Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble saying that Europe is "on a course which is not bad." The gap between the two major economic powers illustrates how the G-20 members are not monolithic in their views of global economic conditions and how best to realize growth.