Top finance officials hope to boost growth

Finance officials from the world's largest economies are being urged to prevent the global economy from falling into a "new mediocre" in which growth remains stuck at subpar levels for years to come, trapping millions of people on unemployment rolls.
Finance ministers and central bank presidents of the Group of 20 nations, which include traditional economic powers such as the United States, Japan and Germany, and emerging economies such as Russia, China and India, were wrapping up two days of talks Friday with a joint statement of goals and a news conference expected in the early afternoon.
The meetings were coming at a time when the news from Europe has been gloomy, raising the prospect that the 18 nations that share the euro currency could be in danger of slipping into another recession.

Germany reported on Thursday that it had the biggest monthly plunge in exports in five years. That came after earlier news of sharp declines in industrial production, factory orders and business confidence in Europe's biggest economy.
Australia, which chairs the G-20 this year, is pushing for adoption of an action plan that will establish a goal of boosting global growth by at least 2 per cent over what it would otherwise have been over the next five years. Such a target would mean an extra USD 2 trillion in output during that time period.