G7 Worried over Middle East Crisis Impact on Growth, Inflation

Paris, May 19 (Jiji Press)–Finance ministers and top central bankers from the Group of Seven major industrialized nations expressed their concerns Tuesday that global economic uncertainty is increasing risks to growth and inflation amid the continuing turmoil in the Middle East. Free and safe navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and a permanent resolution of the conflict are indispensable for the mitigation of adverse impacts, the officials from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States plus the European Union said in a joint statement adopted at their two-day meeting in Paris through the day. The high-profile meeting came at a time when the world faces the simultaneous risks of high inflation and slowing economic growth amid the prolonged de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for Middle East crude oil shipments, requiring coordination of monetary and other policies among the G7 and other nations. From Japan, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda took part in the Paris meeting. With U.S. startup Anthropic’s Claude Mythos in mind, the G7 officials shared concerns over the possibility that advanced artificial intelligence models will be used in cyberattacks targeting financial systems and agreed to compile countermeasures in the run-up to a G7 summit in June while sharing information, including with experts. Claude Mythos is extremely capable of identifying vulnerabilities in systems. The finance and central bank chiefs agreed to expedite efforts to build supply chains for important minerals, including rare earths, that do not rely on China. They also discussed the advisability of introducing a minimum price system for such materials to counter cheap supplies from China. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]