Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Fox Channels May Go Dark on YouTube TV From Wednesday Over Payment Dispute

13 hours ago

California Republicans Sue to Block Congressional Redistricting Plan

13 hours ago

Leaders, Journalist Groups React to Israeli Gaza Strike That Killed Five Journalists

17 hours ago

Trump To Sign Executive Order Directing AG To Prosecute Flag Desecration

19 hours ago

Trump Signs Orders Aimed At Ending Cashless Bail Policies

19 hours ago

Fresno County DUI Crash Sends Car Into Embankment Near Highway 99

21 hours ago

Wrongly Deported Migrant Abrego Again Detained by US Immigration Officials

21 hours ago

Fresno County Wildfire Burns 3,338 Acres, Evacuation Orders Issued

22 hours ago
Leading Finance Officials Acknowledge Global Slowdown
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
April 12, 2019

Share

WASHINGTON — Finance officials from the world’s major powers acknowledged Friday that the global economy is in a slowdown, but they forecast that growth will pick up by the second half of this year, thanks to interest-rate policies from the Federal Reserve and other central banks.

“We must be mindful of an escalation of trade tensions…The free-trading system must be upheld.”Finance Minister Taro Aso of Japan
Officials of the Group of 20 major economies said at the conclusion of their talks that growth had slowed at the end of last year and the beginning of this year due to factors such as turbulent financial markets and heightened tension over trade and interest rates.
But with a switch led by the Federal Reserve to looser monetary policy this year, the stage has been set for a rebound in growth.
Officials, however, cautioned that risks remain, chiefly from trade disputes between the world’s two biggest economies, the United States and China.
“We must be mindful of an escalation of trade tensions,” said Finance Minister Taro Aso of Japan, which holds the chairmanship of the G-20 this year. He said that free trade had allowed Japan and Germany, countries devastated after World War II, to rebuild and become economic powers again.
“The free-trading system must be upheld,” Aso said.

Fed Cuts Forecast for Rate Increases

Aso said there was a broad agreement among financial officials that the current slowdown should be temporary as long as the Fed and other central banks carry through with their plans to provide support for growth.
The Fed, after raising interest rates four times last year, announced at their March meeting that they planned to hold rates steady in light of a slowdown in the United States. Fed officials cut their forecast for rate increases this year from two to none.
Aso said the other G-20 countries pledged to pursue policies to support growth in their own countries.
The G-20 discussions were held as part of the spring meetings of the 189-nation International Monetary Fund and its affiliated lending agency, the World Bank. Representing the U.S. at the talks, set to wrap up Saturday, were Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.
Factors blamed for the current slowdown include the Fed’s rate increases, the huge sell-off in stock markets at the end of last year and problems in the German auto industry caused by Volkswagen and Daimler facing bottlenecks as they get cars certified for new emissions test that took effect Sept. 1.
Haruhiko Kuroda, head of the Bank of Japan, said G-20 officials saw the IMF’s revised forecast as “highly likely” but that all the countries would need to do their part to boost growth.

Markets Could Drop if China – U.S. Can’t Reach Deal

The IMF cut its forecast for global growth from 3.6% last year to 3.3% in 2019, the slowest since the recession year of 2009. The IMF expects world trade to grow just 3.4% this year, down from 3.8% growth in 2018.

Changyong Rhee, director of the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department, noted that financial markets have been rallying on the prospect of an agreement that will end the trade standoff between the U.S. and China.
Changyong Rhee, director of the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department, noted that financial markets have been rallying on the prospect of an agreement that will end the trade standoff between the U.S. and China.
He said markets could drop if the two countries cannot reach a deal, though he also said an agreement could also create problems.
If the Chinese agree to take in more imports from the U.S., as widely expected, those purchases could come at the expense other countries that have been doing business with China. Rhee also expressed concern that China would give American companies “preferential access,” undercutting other countries and leading to “broader worries” about the future of free trade.
Rhee also said a U.S.-China trade peace could prove “short-lived” if the two countries can’t reach a long-term deal that requires Beijing to improve protection of intellectual-property and make other economic reforms.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

New Fresno EOC Chief: ‘We Have to Eliminate Bleeding Programs’

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Sheriff’s Deputy Arrested in Domestic Violence Case

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Crash With Semi-Truck Leaves Man Dead

DON'T MISS

Fox Channels May Go Dark on YouTube TV From Wednesday Over Payment Dispute

DON'T MISS

California Republicans Sue to Block Congressional Redistricting Plan

DON'T MISS

Two Students Arrested After Fight at Visalia’s Redwood High School

DON'T MISS

Trump Wants to Meet North Korea’s Kim This Year, He Tells South Korea

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Arrest Man After Shooting and Stabbing Leave Two Hospitalized

DON'T MISS

Entz: Bulldogs Must ‘Learn, Burn, Return’ After Kansas Loss

DON'T MISS

Caleb Quick’s Father, Other Parents Protest at Fresno Court to Repeal Prop 57

UP NEXT

Trump Wants to Meet North Korea’s Kim This Year, He Tells South Korea

UP NEXT

Leaders, Journalist Groups React to Israeli Gaza Strike That Killed Five Journalists

UP NEXT

CA Bill To Give Interest On Insurance Payments To Homeowners

UP NEXT

Trump To Sign Executive Order Directing AG To Prosecute Flag Desecration

UP NEXT

Trump Signs Orders Aimed At Ending Cashless Bail Policies

UP NEXT

US National Guard Troops in Washington to Begin Carrying Weapons, Officials Say

UP NEXT

Trump to Sign Orders Aimed at Ending Cashless Bail Policies

UP NEXT

Pentagon Working on Plans for Military Deployment in Chicago, Washington Post Reports

UP NEXT

Hegseth Authorizes Troops in DC to Carry Weapons

UP NEXT

Texas, Florida Seek to Join Legal Challenge to Abortion Pill

Fox Channels May Go Dark on YouTube TV From Wednesday Over Payment Dispute

13 hours ago

California Republicans Sue to Block Congressional Redistricting Plan

13 hours ago

Two Students Arrested After Fight at Visalia’s Redwood High School

13 hours ago

Trump Wants to Meet North Korea’s Kim This Year, He Tells South Korea

14 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest Man After Shooting and Stabbing Leave Two Hospitalized

14 hours ago

Entz: Bulldogs Must ‘Learn, Burn, Return’ After Kansas Loss

14 hours ago

Caleb Quick’s Father, Other Parents Protest at Fresno Court to Repeal Prop 57

15 hours ago

SF Has Avoided Trump’s Ire Until Now. Will He Send National Guard?

16 hours ago

Lil Nas X Pleads Not Guilty to Felony Charges of Assaulting Police

17 hours ago

Leaders, Journalist Groups React to Israeli Gaza Strike That Killed Five Journalists

17 hours ago

New Fresno EOC Chief: ‘We Have to Eliminate Bleeding Programs’

Steven R. Lewis, the brand new chief executive officer of the Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission, says he’ll be prepared to ax p...

9 hours ago

Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission CEO, Steven Lewis
9 hours ago

New Fresno EOC Chief: ‘We Have to Eliminate Bleeding Programs’

Fresno County sheriff’s deputy Jaime Mendoza, 30, was arrested Monday, August 25, 2025, on suspicion of domestic violence, officials said. (Fresno County SO)
9 hours ago

Fresno County Sheriff’s Deputy Arrested in Domestic Violence Case

fresno
13 hours ago

Fresno County Crash With Semi-Truck Leaves Man Dead

YouTube app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. (Reuters File)
13 hours ago

Fox Channels May Go Dark on YouTube TV From Wednesday Over Payment Dispute

California Governor Gavin Newsom, along with local congressional representatives, state officials and supporters, speaks as he announces the redrawing of California's congressional maps, calling on voters to approve a ballot measure, in response to a similar move in Texas being supported by U.S. President Donald Trump, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., August 14, 2025. (Reuters File)
13 hours ago

California Republicans Sue to Block Congressional Redistricting Plan

13 hours ago

Two Students Arrested After Fight at Visalia’s Redwood High School

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung at the Oval Office, at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 25, 2025. (Reuters/Brian Snyder)
14 hours ago

Trump Wants to Meet North Korea’s Kim This Year, He Tells South Korea

14 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest Man After Shooting and Stabbing Leave Two Hospitalized

Search

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Send this to a friend