G7 pledges to support growth, bring down deficits

The Group of Seven top economies is committed to "nurturing" world economic recovery, British finance minister George Osborne said today following a meeting of the international body that also pledged to further slash countries' huge public deficits.
"Overall, our discussions over the past two days have reaffirmed that there are still many challenges to securing sustainable global recovery, and we can't take it for granted," he said.
"But we are committed as the advanced economies in playing our part in nurturing that recovery and ensuring a lasting recovery so that we have prosperity in all our countries."
The chancellor of the exchequer was speaking after a two-day informal meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bankers aimed at striking a balance between supporting fragile economic recovery and slashing government debts.

Osborne said the discussions had revealed more areas of agreement between the member states than is assumed, amid pressure from the United States for Europe to scale back deep austerity measures.
He also told reporters after the talks in Aylesbury, northwest of London, that the G7 ministers had agreed on the "importance of collective action" to tackle tax evasion, which Britain has made a priority of its presidencies of the G7 and the G8.
The G7 comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. The G8 is the G7 plus Russia.
The Aylesbury gathering, also attended by top representatives from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, built on last month's wider Group of 20 meeting while looking ahead to next month's G8 summit in Northern Ireland.