FM holds bilateral meetings with G20 ministers

PTI

Bengaluru: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday underlined the need for a global framework to regulate cryptocurrencies besides firming up ways to tackle global debt vulnerabilities and strengthening multilateral development banks. She discussed these topics during the bilateral meetings with her counterparts, including from US, Japan and Spain, ahead of the G20 ministerial meeting.

The finance ministers of the G20 countries, which is a grouping of developed and developing nations, are here to participate in the two-day meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors (FMCBG) beginning February 24.

Under the G20 Presidency, India will be pressing for a global framework to regulate the cryptocurrencies and ways to tackle the aggravated debt vulnerabilities facing the developing nations, mainly on account of the continuing geopolitical tensions and the pandemic. It is feared that if left unaddressed, the mounting debt vulnerabilities of developing nations could trigger global recession and push millions to extreme poverty.

The minister has held separate bilateral meetings with several G20 ministers, including US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Finance Minister of Japan Shunichi Suzuki, and Italian Minister of Economy and Finance Giancarlo Giorgetti ahead of the G-20 FMCBG meeting