MOSCOW (Reuters) - There is better understanding among
Group of 20 nations that the foreign exchange rate systems of the
world's largest economies need to be better aligned, a senior U.S.
administration official said on Saturday after G20 finance leaders met
in Moscow.
While the Group of Seven industrialized countries - the
United States, Britain, Italy, Germany, Japan, France and Canada - have
long-standing rules on exchange rates, the newer G20 of emerging and
advanced economies, including China, India and Brazil, is still trying
to develop a set of common standards, the official said.
The G20 meeting committed to move more rapidly toward
more market exchange rate systems and to refrain from competitive
devaluation.
The wording of the final statement was closely followed
given concerns that Japan is targeting a weaker yen in its aggressive
expansive monetary and fiscal policies, which have driven down its
currency.
G20 currency tensions are not new. The United States
has long pressed China to reform its exchange rate regime by allowing
market forces to play a larger role in managing the economy.
The U.S. administration official said G20 discussions
were focused more on currency frameworks than on a particular country's
policies.
Meanwhile, the official said the United States was on
target to meet a pledge by advanced economies at the G20 in Toronto in
2010 to halve their budget deficits by 2013. With the pact set to expire
this year, some countries like Germany want the G20 to set new
debt-cutting targets.
The U.S. official said the Moscow meeting wanted to
avoid any commitment that there is a one-size-fits-all pace of fiscal
consolidation. However, the official said the United States was
comfortable with the way the fiscal consolidation effort was being
discussed by the G20.
