Jakarta, February 15, 2022
- The second Finance and Central Bank Deputies (FCBD) Meeting held on February 15-16, 2022 marked the beginning of the first series of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) Meetings in the Finance Track of Indonesia's G20 Presidency carrying the theme Recover Together, Recover Stronger.
The second FCBD meeting discussed the First Communique Drafting for further discussion in the FMCBG meeting scheduled to be held on February 17-18, 2022. The second FCBD meeting was opened by the Expert Staff to the Minister of Finance for Macroeconomics and Finance, Wempi Saputra, who was representing Indonesia's G20 Presidency today (Feb. 15) in Jakarta. "It is imperative for the G20 member countries to show leadership in supporting the world's economic recovery, as well as in strengthening coordination in the financial and health sectors. This, in deed, is to achieve a sustainable and inclusive recovery," said Wempi.
The communique drafting was focused at efforts for economic recovery due to Covid-19 pandemic. Although the last few quarters have seen positive growth, a number of risks remain looming over the global economy. In addition, the emergence of new variants of Covid-19 such as Omicron and the uneven distribution of vaccines have posed challenges for economic recovery.
"The G20 Finance Track discussion will pursue a long-term economic recovery strategy for better prevention, preparedness, and response to potential future pandemics. Through this two-day FCBD meeting, the forum will also discuss debt restructuring relief schemes for poor countries as one of its agenda, to strengthen such countries' financial resilience," added Wempi.
The communique is a joint statement of the G20 members containing joint commitments and joint statements to be conveyed to the public. It usually covers the latest global issues which become a common concern and are the result of a consensus among G20 members. The first communique drafting produced in the second Finance and Central Bank Deputies meeting will be further discussed to be adopted as a joint commitment by the G20 members at the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting. Furthermore, the communique will be used as a basis for further discussion in the Working Group forum. Six agendas were discussed in this Communique drafting, namely: (i) global economy and health, (ii) international financial architecture, (iii) financial sector issues, (iv) sustainable finance, (v) infrastructure, and (vi) international taxation.
With new cases of Covid-19 still increasing, the convention of this year's series of G20 meetings remains adopting a hybrid (physical and virtual) method while complying with strict health protocols for physical meetings. Furthermore, this year's G20 meetings are not only attended by member countries, also attending are a number of invited countries such as Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, as well as nine international organizations such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Investment Bank ( EIB), Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Financial Stability Board, Global Infrastructure Hub (GI Hub), Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), World Bank and World Health Organization (WHO).
