World News | BRICS Countries Agree to Deepen Financial Cooperation

Beijing, Jun 7 (PTI) The BRICS nations comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have reached a consensus on deepening financial cooperation and strengthening coordination on macroeconomic policy, the official media here reported on Tuesday.

A virtual meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors of the five-member bloc was held on Monday which was co-chaired by China's central bank governor Yi Gang and finance minister Liu Kun.

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The meeting discussed topics such as improving the Contingent Reserve Arrangement and the cooperation of transition finance and other areas.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who participated virtually in the meeting, said that India's growth will be driven by fiscal spending.

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Sitharaman said BRICS should continue to serve as a platform to engage in dialogues and facilitate exchange of experiences, concerns and ideas for rebuilding a sustainable and inclusive growth trajectory.

Speaking on India's growth outlook, she said the economic growth will continue to be supported by fiscal spending along with an investment push, imparting momentum to the economy based on the idea of growth at macro level complemented by all-inclusive welfare at micro level, the Ministry of Finance said in a press release on Monday.

The finance ministers and the central bank governors of BRICS countries issued a joint statement at the virtual meeting, reaching a consensus on deepening financial cooperation and strengthening coordination on macroeconomic policy.

China is this year's chair of the BRICS and is expected to hold the annual summit of the five-member bloc in the coming weeks.

At the meeting, Yi spoke highly of the concerted efforts made by all BRICS countries in achieving positive progress in financial cooperation, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The meeting called upon the international community to foster partnerships, noting that it is imperative to strengthen macro-policy coordination in driving the world economy out of the crisis and shaping a strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive post-pandemic economic recovery.

It also reiterated BRICS countries' commitment to maintaining a strong and effective Global Financial Safety Net with a quota-based and adequately resourced International Monetary Fund (IMF) at its centre, calling for the timely and successful completion of the 16th General Review of Quotas.

The meeting also recognised the crucial role of sustainable finance in the global economic recovery as well as the importance of transition finance in facilitating orderly green and low-carbon transition, the report said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)