G7 Research Group G7 Information Centre
Summits |  Meetings |  Publications |  Research |  Search |  Home |  About the G7 Research Group
University of Toronto

G7 Leaders Statement on the World Economy

October 30, 1998

See also:
Declaration of G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors
Memorandum on the Work Program on Strengthening the Architecture of the International Monetary System, issued by the IMF Executive Directors of the G7 countries, to the IMF Director and Executive Board, October 30, 1998.


G7 Leaders have reviewed recent developments in the world economy. We welcome the steps our Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors have announced today to address both the immediate problems and longer term weaknesses in the international financial system, particularly in the light of their impact on the poor and the most vulnerable.

Immediate Measures

  1. We welcome the significant steps taken over recent weeks to strengthen confidence in the world economy, including:
  2. These developments have contributed to some improvement in market conditions, though we still face serious challenges which will take time to resolve. We therefore call on our Finance Ministers, working together with their central bank colleagues, to strengthen further their cooperation to promote strong and steady growth with low inflation in our economies.
  3. In view of the exceptional pressures in the international financial markets, we welcome our Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors proposals for a set of financing arrangements to ward off destabilising market contagion, including:

Long-Term Architecture

  1. However, beyond these short-term steps we also agree that further reforms are now required to create a strengthened financial architecture for the global market-place of the next millennium that captures the full benefits of international capital flows and global markets, minimises the risk of disruption, and better protects the most vulnerable.
  2. At the Birmingham Summit we asked our Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors to make recommendations to help strengthen the international financial system. They have worked intensively with key emerging markets, other industrialised nations and the relevant international organisations to put in place the building blocks of this new architecture. We have now reached agreement on a number of their recommendations:
  3. We welcome our Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors detailed proposals in these areas, published today, and agree they should be implemented promptly.
  4. But we must do more to build a modern framework for the global markets of the 21st century and to limit the swings of boom and bust that destroy hope and diminish wealth. We therefore call upon our Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors to extend the reach of their work to pursue further proposals to strengthen the international financial system, including:
  5. Open markets will play a key role in restoring and sustaining growth. We therefore renew our commitment, made at the Birmingham Summit, for all countries to open their markets further, resist protectionism and to continue liberalisation within the framework of the WTO.
  6. We remain committed to keeping these issues under constant review. We have asked our Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors to consult with other key countries, including emerging market economies, and to work up detailed proposals in each of these areas. We look forward to agreeing these at our meeting in Köln next year.

Source: 10 Downing Street, United Kingdom


G7 Information Centre

Top of Page
This Information System is provided by the University of Toronto Libraries and the G7 Research Group at the University of Toronto.
Please send comments to: g7@utoronto.ca
This page was last updated December 27, 2015.

All contents copyright © 2024. University of Toronto unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved.