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G20 Summits • 2022 Bali Summit | Road to the 2022 Bali Summit
G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meetings

Finance Minister Emphasizes the Importance of Dealing with Economic Scarring Effect Due to the Pandemic in the First FMCBG

February 17, 2022, Jakarta, Indonesia

The first meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) begins today, Thursday, February 17th, and will go through February 18th, 2022. This meeting marked the start of a series of activities for Indonesia as the G20 Presidency.

The meeting commenced with remarks from Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, and Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo, all of whom were present and virtually greeted the attendees.

To mark the commencement of a series of meetings of all Finance Ministers of G20 member countries, Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani described how global economic circumstances have improved considerably since last year's FMCBG meeting, despite the fact that a number of challenges remain.

"Indonesia currently holds the G20 Presidency at a very challenging momentum." Handling the economic and financial impacts of the pandemic, as well as uneven access to vaccines, is a primary focus this year. However, there are risks in establishing macro-fiscal policies, one of which is that special policies during the pandemic cannot be used constantly amid a more constrained fiscal space," Sri Mulyani added.

Furthermore, the Minister of Finance stated that it is critical to tackle the problem of prolonged scarring effects in order to establish a robust, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth recovery.

As one of the G20's focal points, the Minister of Finance also emphasized the importance of the climate change issue, which is a greater threat than the pandemic.

"The pandemic period serves as a stark reminder to all of us about how sensitive the global economy is to non-traditional shocks." In this context, it is important to realize that climate change can have considerably bigger impacts than a pandemic. This is where the G20's role in combating climate change is needed. Not only in terms of lowering carbon emissions but also in terms of finding ways to increase and channel more funding and investment into sustainable technologies that facilitate climate action." Sri Mulyani concluded.

Furthermore, in his speech, Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo emphasized that in the midst of the challenges, the G20's role and leadership is more important than ever, both in overcoming the root causes, such as ensuring the sufficiency of production and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine and in overcoming various strategic issues at the global level to promote economic recovery.

In keeping with the G20 Indonesia Presidency Theme of "Recover Together, Recover Stronger," President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo invites all member countries to work together and collaborate to achieve global recovery. He stated that the FMCBG meeting will foster synergies in monetary and fiscal policy to address challenges in order to promote digital transformation, build a new economy, and boost SMEs.

In the midst of an upsurge in new cases of COVID-19, the First Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) on the 17th and 18th of February 2022 will be held in a hybrid (physical and virtual) arrangement, with strict health protocols enforced for physical meetings.

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Source: Official Website of the 2022 G20 Indonesia Presidency