G7
| Group of Seven and the European Union |
|---|
|
- Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty;
- French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde;
- German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück
- US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson;
- Italian Finance Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa;
- Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga;
- UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling;
- Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker.
The Group of 7 (G7) is a group consisting of the finance ministers and central bank governors of seven major advanced economies as reported by the International Monetary Fund: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States meeting to discuss primarily economic issues. The European Union is also represented within the G7. The G7 are the seven wealthiest major developed nations by national net wealth, representing more than 64% of the net global wealth ($263 trillion) according to the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report October 2014.[1][page needed] The IMF's Managing Director usually participates.[2] Recent G7 meetings include that of May 2013 in Aylesbury, United Kingdom with an emergency meeting in The Hague, Netherlands on March 24, 2014. Most recently, there was a meeting in Brussels on June 4, 2014.[3]
Contents
History[edit]
The G7's precursor was the 'Group of Six', founded ad hoc in 1975, consisting of finance ministers and central bank governors from France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, when Giscard d'Estaing invited them for an "informal gathering at the chateau of Rambouillet, near Paris [...] in a relaxed and private setting".[4] The intent was "to discuss current world issues (dominated at the time by the oil crisis) in a frank and informal manner".[4] Canada became the seventh member in 1976, after which the name 'Group 7' or G7 was used.[4] During 1986–87 the G7 with its finance ministers and central bank governors superseded the G5 as the main policy coordination group, particularly following the Louvre Accord of February 1987, agreed by the G5 plus Canada and endorsed by the G7.
Following 1994's G7 summit in Naples, Russian officials held separate meetings with leaders of the G7 after the group's summits. This informal arrangement was dubbed the Political 8 (P8) – or, colloquially, the G7+1. At the invitation of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair and President of the United States Bill Clinton,[5] Russian President Boris Yeltsin was invited first as a guest observer, later as a full participant. It was seen as a way to encourage Yeltsin's capitalist reforms.[citation needed] After the 1997 meeting Russia was formally invited to the next meeting and formally joined the group in 1998, resulting in a new group, the Group of Eight, or G8.[4]
Function[edit]
The organization was originally founded to facilitate shared macroeconomic initiatives by its members in response to the collapse of the exchange rate 1971, during the time of the Nixon Shock, the 1970s energy crisis and the ensuing recession.[6] Its goal was fine tuning of short term economic policies among participant countries to monitor developments in the world economy and assess economic policies.[citation needed]
Work[edit]
Since 1975, the group meets annually on summit site to discuss economic policies; since 1987, the G7 finance ministers have met at least semi-annually, up to 4 times a year at stand-alone meetings.[2][7]
In 1996, the G7 launched an initiative for the 42 heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC).[8]
In 1999, the G7 decided to get more directly involved in "managing the international monetary system" through the Financial Stability Forum, formed earlier in 1999 and the G-20, established following the summit, to "promote dialogue between major industrial and emerging market countries".[9] In 1999 the G7 announced their plan to cancel 90% of bilateral, and multilateral debt for the HIPC, totaling $100 billion.[citation needed] In 2005 the G7 announced, debt reductions of "up to 100%" to be negotiated on a "case by case" basis.[citation needed]
In 2008 the G7 met twice in Washington, D.C. to discuss the global financial crisis of 2007-2010[10] and in February 2009 in Rome.[11][12] The group of finance ministers pledged to take "all necessary steps" to stem the crisis.[13]
On March 2, 2014, the G7 condemned the "Russian Federation's violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine."[14] The G7 stated "that the International Monetary Fund(IMF) remains the institution best prepared to help Ukraine address its immediate economic challenges through policy advice and financing, conditioned on needed reforms", and that the G7 was "committed to mobilize rapid technical assistance to support Ukraine in addressing its macroeconomic, regulatory and anti-corruption challenges."[14]
On March 24, 2014, the G7 convened an emergency meeting in response to the Russian Federation's annexation of Crimea at the Dutch Catshuis, located in The Hague because all G7 leaders were already present to attend the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit. This was the first G7 meeting neither taking place in a member nation nor having the host leader participating in the meeting.[15]
On June 4, 2014 leaders at the G7 summit in Brussels, condemned Moscow for its "continuing violation" of Ukraine's sovereignty, in their joint statement and stated they were prepared to impose further sanctions on Russia.[16] This meeting was the first since Russia was expelled from the group following its annexation of Crimea in March.[16]
Influence[edit]
The G7 has influenced IMF and World Bank rules of crisis resolution and development, as well as GATT's rules of international trade.[17]
Criticism[edit]
The G7 has been criticized for their representational deficit.[18] The G7 does not include the world's largest emerging economies such as Brazil, India and China. Walden Bello calls the G7 an undemocratic institution.[19] The G7 decision making process has been described non-transparent, by former insider Leo Van Houtven, Secretary of the IMF from 1977 to 1996: "[The G7's] frequent contacts with IMF management on both policy and operational issues lack transparency..."[9]
Table of meetings[edit]
Leaders[edit]
| Region | Member | Official title | Head of government | Official title | Finance minister | Central bank governor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America |  Canada |
Prime Minister | Stephen Harper | Minister of Finance | Joe Oliver | Stephen Poloz |
| Europe |  France |
President
|
François Hollande
|
Minister of Finances | Michel Sapin | Christian Noyer |
| Europe |  Germany |
Chancellor | Angela Merkel | Minister of Finance | Wolfgang Schäuble | Jens Weidmann |
| Europe |  Italy |
Prime Minister | Matteo Renzi | Minister of Economy and Finance |
Pier Carlo Padoan | Ignazio Visco |
| Asia |  Japan |
Prime Minister | Shinzo Abe | Minister of Finance | Taro Aso | Haruhiko Kuroda |
| Europe |  United Kingdom |
Prime Minister | David Cameron | Chancellor of the Exchequer | George Osborne | Mark Carney |
| North America |  United States |
President | Barack Obama | Secretary of the Treasury | Jack Lew | Janet Yellen |
| Europe |  European Union |
European Council President[20]
|
Donald Tusk
|
Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro |
Jyrki Katainen | Mario Draghi |
Portraits of Heads of Government and EU representatives, as of 2014[edit]
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Member country data[edit]
| Member | Trade mil. USD (2013) | Nom. GDP mil. USD (2014)[21] | PPP GDP mil. USD (2014)[22] | Nom. GDP per capita USD (2014)[23] | PPP GDP per capita USD (2014)[24] | HDI (2013) | Population (2014) | P5 | G7 | BRICS | MINT | DAC | OECD | Economic classification (IMF)[25] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada |
932,600 | 1,793,797 | 1,578,921 | 50,577 | 44,519 | 0.902 | 35,467,000 |  |
 |
|
|
|
|
Advanced |
| France |
1,260,700 | 2,902,330 | 2,586,524 | 45,384 | 40,445 | 0.884 | 63,951,000 | |
|
|
|
|
|
Advanced |
| Germany |
2,600,600 | 3,820,464 | 3,621,357 | 47,201 | 44,741 | 0.911 | 80,940,000 | |
|
|
|
|
|
Advanced |
| Italy |
995,100 | 2,129,276 | 2,065,933 | 35,512 | 34,455 | 0.872 | 60,808,000 | |
|
|
|
|
|
Advanced |
| Japan |
1,548,300 | 4,769,804 | 4,788,033 | 37,540 | 37,683 | 0.890 | 127,061,000 | |
|
|
|
|
|
Advanced |
| United Kingdom |
1,196,900 | 2,847,604 | 2,434,932 | 44,141 | 37,744 | 0.892 | 64,511,000 | |
|
|
|
|
|
Advanced |
| United States |
3,908,700 | 17,416,253 | 17,416,253 | 54,678 | 54,678 | 0.914 | 318,523,000 | |
|
|
|
|
|
Advanced |
| European Union |
4,485,000 | 18,398,669 | 18,124,316 | 36,392 | 35,849 | 0.876 | 505,570,700 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
The G7 is composed of the wealthiest developed countries by national net wealth (See National wealth). The People's Republic of China, according to its data, would be 3rd (8.1% of the world net wealth) in the world, but is excluded because it isn't a developed country.[26] The G7 (without including the European Union) represents above 64% of the global net wealth.[27] Including the EU it represents over 70% of the global net wealth.[28]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook 2013. Credit Suisse. October 2013.
- ^ a b "A Guide To Committees, Groups, And Clubs. G7". factsheet. IMF org. September 27, 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
- ^ "Obama and Merkel warn of tougher sanctions against Russia over Ukraine The German and US leaders issued a joint statement at the G7 summit on Wednesday night".
- ^ a b c d 2008 "Evian summit - Questions about the G8". Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Paris. n.d.
- ^ "Russia — Odd Man Out in the G-8", Mark Medish, The Globalist, 02-24-2006.Accessed: 07-12-2008
- ^ Bayne, Nicholas (December 7, 1998), "International economic organizations : more policy making less autonomy", in Reinalda, Bob; Verbeek, Bertjan, Autonomous Policymaking By International Organizations (Routledge/Ecpr Studies in European Political Science, 5), Routledge, ISBN 9780415164863, OCLC 70763323, 0415164869
- ^ "G7/8 Ministerial Meetings and Documents". G8 Information Centre. University of Toronto. 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
- ^ International Money Fund. "Debt Relief Under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative;Perspectives on the Current Framework and Options for Change". IMF.org. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
- ^ a b Van Houtven, Leo (September 2004). "Rethinking IMF Governance". Finance & Development. International Money Fund. p. 18. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
- ^ Bo Nielsen (14 April 2008). "G7 Statement Fails to Convince Major Traders to Change Outlook. publisher= Bloomberg L.P.".
- ^ Simon Kennedy (10 October 2008). G7 "Against the Wall- Weighs Loan-Guarantee Plan (Update1)". Bloomberg L.P.
- ^ Yahoo.com[dead link]
- ^ Simon Kennedy (11 October 2008). G7 "Commit to 'All Necessary Steps' to Stem Meltdown (Update3)". Bloomberg L.P.
- ^ a b "Statement by G7 Nations". G8 Info Ctr. University of Toronto. March 2, 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
- ^ "G7 leaders descend on the Netherlands for Ukraine crisis talks". CBC news. Thomson Reuters. 23 March 2014.
- ^ a b BBC (5 June 2014). "G7 leaders warn Russia of fresh sanctions over Ukraine". BBC.
- ^ de Brouwer, Gordon (2012-03-20). "The Asian century and the G20: an Australian perspective on a changing world". Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
- ^ Telò, Mario (February 2012). State, Globalization and Multilateralism: The challenges of institutionalizing regionalism. Springer. p. 167.
- ^ Walden Bello (October 25, 2001). "Prospects for Good Global Governance: The View from the South. A Report Prepared for the Bundestag, Federal Republic of Germany". Global Policy Forum. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
- ^ a b "Van Rompuy and Barroso to both represent EU at G20". EUobserver.com. 19 March 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2012. "The permanent president of the EU Council, former Belgian premier Herman Van Rompuy, also represents the bloc abroad in foreign policy and security matters...in other areas, such as climate change, President Barroso will speak on behalf of the 27-member club."
- ^ "GDP (current US$)". World Development Indicators. World Bank. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
- ^ "Gross domestic product based on purchasing-power-parity (PPP) valuation of country GDP". IMF World Economic Outlook. April 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
- ^ Data refer mostly to the year 2013. World Development Indicators database, World Bank. Database updated on 1 July 2014. Accessed on 3 July 2014.
- ^ "World Economic Outlook: GDP (PPP) per capita". International Monetary Fund. October 2014. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
- ^ "World Economic Outlook data". IMF. 2014. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
- ^ https://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/index.cfm?fileid=25EC6CF2-0407-67D9-AAEAAE8BDFEDE378 Page: 33-92
- ^ https://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/index.cfm?fileid=25EC6CF2-0407-67D9-AAEAAE8BDFEDE378 Page: 33-92
- ^ https://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/index.cfm?fileid=25EC6CF2-0407-67D9-AAEAAE8BDFEDE378 Page: 33-92
External links[edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Group of Seven. |
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Wikinews has related news: Economic policy makers conclude Washington meetings |
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