Currency War Fears Overshadow G20 Meeting

The finance ministers and economic advisers for the G20 nations are gathering for a meeting in Moscow under a cloud of suspicion regarding a global currency war.

The Japanese yen has been in heavy decline over recent months and the euro has been rising against the currencies of weaker nations. The value of a country’s currency will have a direct impact on trading and a move by a government to weaken their currency could have long-ranging impacts on world markets.

The G20 has taken steps in the past to keep nations from interfering with the currency markets. The G7 group of nations issued a statement that they would not set targets for exchange rates and attempt to interfere. Russia’s finance minister and host of the G20 meeting said a similar statement from the G20 group would be a likely outcome.

A spokesman for the International Monetary Fund said talk of a currency war is “overblown” and that nations were easing policies to try and revive economic growth in the midst of worldwide recession.

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