Finance chiefs from the Group of Seven economic powers met on Saturday to discuss two of the global economic concerns over which they have least control -- high oil prices and China's fixed currency peg. Increasingly aware of the group's ebbing influence amid shifting world economic power toward developing giants such as China, India, Brazil and Russia, many G7 officials said the world may simply have to adapt to higher oil prices. The United States, meanwhile, lobbied G7 members to urge China to allow its currency to rise against the dollar -- ratcheting up pressure on Beijing as the White House seeks answers for critics at home who say the administration has been too soft on what they see as an effective export subsidy. Meeting in Washington for the second of four yearly meetings and against a backdrop of increasingly jittery financial markets, the finance ministers and central bank governors are due to release a statement about 1100 EDT. The G7 is made up of the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. Record oil prices, which have risen about 50 percent over the past 12 months, and China's rigid currency peg to the dollar are frequently cited as two of the biggest risks to world economic stability. --More 1810 Local Time 1510 GMT
