LONDON — Top finance officials at a Group of 20 meeting in London are expected to stress their commitment to boosting the global economy for now — despite friction over when exactly to scale back stimulus efforts amid growing signs of recovery.
Finance ministers and central bankers will try to coordinate plans for an eventual winding down of the trillions of dollars of support. They will also discuss further financial reforms such as a U.S. proposal for an international accord on increasing banks’ capital reserves.
Agreement is less likely, however, on a European proposal to curb bankers’ bonuses, which may run into a U.S. stumbling block.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner played down expectations for major announcements from the gathering today and Saturday, saying it was a step toward a meeting of G20 national leaders in Pittsburgh later in the month.
“This is a stock-taking meeting, not a new-initiatives meeting,” Geithner told reporters at a briefing in Washington, D.C.
The finance ministers and central-bank officials from rich and developing countries representing 80 percent of world economic output are convening amid gathering indicators of an economic recovery.
