The Korea Herald

피터빈트

APEC finance ministers to tackle worries over global slowdown

By KH디지털2

Published : Oct. 22, 2014 - 10:12

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Pacific Rim finance ministers were to meet in Beijing on Wednesday to discuss ways on how to play a role in stimulating a global economy, which has shown signs of another slowdown. 

The meeting of the finance ministers or their deputies from the 21-member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum comes ahead of the APEC's annual summit meeting in November.

Lou Jiwei, China's finance minister, said this week's meeting would highlight "policies and coordination needed to promote a robust economic recovery and sustainable development." 

"Given the weak recovery of the global economy and new challenges such as the divergent monetary policies of advanced economies, whether the Asia-Pacific region -- the engine of global economic growth -- can be the first to achieve robust economic recovery is attracting attention from all sides," Lou told state-run China Daily in an interview published on Tuesday. 

While the U.S.' economic growth seems to remain steadier, a slowdown in China, concerns about another recession in Europe, the global threat of an Ebola pandemic and fights against the Islamic State have cast a shadow on the weak global economic recovery. 

The International Monetary Fund recently cut its growth outlook for the global economy this year to 3.3 percent from 3.4 percent.

This week, China reported a 7.3 percent growth in the third-quarter of this year, marking its slowest expansion since the 2008 global financial crisis. 

South Korean Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan is also set to joint the APEC finance ministers' meeting and hold several bilateral talks with his counterparts, Seoul officials said. 

The APEC includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam. (Yonhap)