Communiqué: Third G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting

Since we met in April 2021, the global outlook has further improved, mainly due to the roll out of vaccines and continued policy support. However, the recovery is characterised by great divergences across and within countries and remains exposed to downside risks, in particular the spread of new variants of the COVID-19 virus and different paces of vaccination. We reaffirm our resolve to use all available policy tools for as long as required to address the adverse consequences of COVID-19, especially on the most impacted, such as women, youth and informal and low-skilled workers. We will continue to sustain the recovery, avoiding any premature withdrawal of support measures, while remaining consistent with central bank mandates – including on price stability – and preserving financial stability and long-term fiscal sustainability and safeguarding against downside risks and negative spillovers. On the basis of the G20 Action Plan, we will continue our international cooperation to steer the global economy toward strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth. We confirm our April commitments on exchange rates. We reaffirm the important role of open and fair rules-based trade in restoring growth and job creation and our commitment to fight protectionism, and encourage concerted efforts to reform the World Trade Organization (WTO).

We remain determined to bring the pandemic under control everywhere as soon as possible, and we welcome the commitments to attain this ambitious objective, including those made at the Global Health Summit. We recognise the role of COVID-19 immunisation as a global public good and reiterate our support for all collaborative efforts, especially to the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A), to address the current health crisis, urging both the public and private sector to address the remaining gaps, including through the equitable global sharing of safe, effective, quality and affordable vaccine doses. We support efforts to diversify global vaccine-manufacturing capacity and strengthen health systems. We will also prioritise acceleration of the delivery of vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics, target responses to rapidly react to new variants or flare-ups, and provide support in delivering and distributing vaccines, especially to developing countries. We acknowledge the formation of the task force by the World Bank (WB), World Health Organization (WHO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), and WTO on COVID- 19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics for developing countries. Recognising the urgent need to be better prepared for future health threats, we welcome the Report of the G20 High Level Independent Panel on Financing Global Commons for Pandemic Preparedness and Response and take note of its recommendations. We commit to working together and with International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and relevant partners, in particular the WHO, to develop proposals for sustainable financing to strengthen future pandemic preparedness and response, and to improve international governance and coordination between global health and finance policy makers. We task experts from our Ministries of Finance and Health to follow up with concrete proposals to be presented at the G20 Joint Finance and Health Ministers’ meeting in October.

To read the full report from the G20, please click here.