This week's Group of Seven (G7) meeting of top finance officials will discuss the turmoil in financial markets over the past several months, but leaders will not “rush to judgment” on solutions, a U.S. Treasury Department official said Wednesday. Undersecretary David McCormick said the turmoil in markets over the past few months will be part of Friday's discussion in Washington, along with trade, energy, the environment, and reform of international financial institutions. “Clearly, the recent financial-market turmoil will be a focal point, and a good part of the G7 meeting will be devoted to this issue,” McCormick told reporters. He said that Washington believes that more study of the turmoil is needed before any actions are taken. “This issues raised by the recent turmoil are complex and require careful analysis,” McCormick said. “We must undertake this work quickly, but we cannot rush to judgment.” U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and his G7 counterparts asked for the formation of a working group to study the “underlying causes of the turbulence and offer proposals” for ways to avoid future crises, McCormick said. According to McCormick, Washington does not favor any move that would restrict flows of capital. “Notwithstanding the recent turmoil, we should remember that the globalization of capital markets has brought enormous benefits to the world-broader choices in financial products, greater prosperity, and expanded opportunity,” he said. The G7 meeting will include finance ministers and central-bank chiefs from the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, and Canada.
