G20 seeks to banish 'currency war'

Finance ministers from G20 states yesterday gathered in Moscow for their first meeting in the Russian capital aimed at reassuring markets that the world's economic powers would not slug it out in "currency wars" to boost national growth.
The troubles of the debt-ridden eurozone will for the first time in several international meetings not be centre stage, with the main concern expected to be Japan's controversial plan for "monetary easing" that weakens the yen.
World economic policymakers need to find ways to boost growth without using instruments that could cause market turbulence or wreck international financial coordination.
The main challenge for the G20 is to "bring the world economy out of stagnation and uncertainty, and move on a firm path towards growth," President Vladimir Putin told the ministers as they met.
But EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn indicated that taking that path might not be easy: "The short-term outlook for the euro area is improving, although forecasts indicate the economy will only gather momentum slowly over the course of this year," he said.
The two-day G20 meeting, being hosted by Russia for the first time as it holds the presidency of the world's leading economies, is a prime chance for Moscow to present itself as a reliable global economic player.
Russia has set the task during its presidency -- which will culminate in the G20 summit from September 5-6 in Saint Petersburg -- of launching a "new cycle of growth" through investment, transparency and regulation.
The Secretary General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Angel Gurria denied that a currency war was in progress, saying everyone wanted Japan to rid itself of the curse of deflation.
"There is no currency war. We are further today away from a currency war than we were two years ago or three years ago," he said in Moscow.