Worst is over for global economy: G7

TORONTO: Finance ministers from the world's top seven industrialised (G7) nations who wound up their two-day informal chats in the Canadian Arctic city of Iqaluit admitted that the recovery from the global recession is still weak.

Though there was no formal communiqué at the end of the 24-hour gathering, the finance ministers and central bank heads from the US, Canada, Italy, France, Britain, Germany and Japan said the worst was over for the global economy.

Expressing cautious optimism over the recovery, they said their governments would continue with stimulus spending to speed up the recovery process.

Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who hosted the meeting, said there are signs that the worst is over for the global economy, but the recovery process is still not firmly established yet.

Reading a statement on behalf of the G7 finance ministers, Flaherty said, "The global economic situation has of course improved and is improving. We do not have firmly established recovery yet but there are good signs.

"We need to continue to deliver the stimulus to which we are mutually committed and begin to look ahead to exit strategies and move to a more sustainable fiscal track consistent with continued recovery."

They said their strategies to get out of the economic crisis were paying off and committed themselves to avoiding such crises in the future.

The meeting started Friday with a working dinner on the global economic crisis, followed by a fireside chat on the recovery process.

The finance ministers discussed financial sector reforms and efforts by G7 nations to address the underlying causes of the financial crisis. Later, they held a session on 'Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth,' endorsed by the G20 summit in Pittsburgh last year.