Britain's export performance and construction industry continued to improve in March, giving George Osborne a much-needed lift ahead of the G7 meeting of finance ministers that began on Friday.
The chancellor, who is under pressure to to boost growth and relax his plans for further public spending cuts, is expected to be relieved that while goods exports to other EU member states were flat, sales to non-EU countries were up 10% on the previous month. Exports to the US soared 21% on February's level.
Speaking as he welcomed finance ministers and central bank governors from the world's most powerful economies, Osborne said he was keen for his peers to focus on what more central banks can do to help growth at a time when most governments are trying to cut spending and reduce bloated debts.
"(This is) an opportunity to consider what more monetary activism can do to support the recovery, while ensuring medium-term inflation expectations remain anchored," he said.
Christine Lagarde, the boss of the International Monetary Fund, incoming Bank of England governor Mark Carney and US Treasury secretary Jack Lew were among those arriving at Hartwell House in the Buckinghamshire countryside for the G7 meeting on Friday.
Osborne has also pledged to make tax evasion a key issue at the G7 summit, but Lew made it clear the Obama administration's priority was tackling the current slowdown in global growth.
Lew said Japan had "growth issues" that needed to be dealt with and that its attempts to stimulate its economy needed to stay within the bounds of international agreements to avoid competitive devaluations.
"I'm just going to refer back to the ground rules and the fact that we've made clear that we'll keep an eye on that," he said.
The yen hit a four-year low against the dollar earlier on Friday, beyond the psychologically important 100 yen mark. It also traded at a three-year low against the euro.
courtesy of the guardian.
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