Joint statement from the Finance Ministers of the United Kingdom,
Australia, Japan, Sweden, Netherlands, Finland, Spain, Norway,
Republic of Ireland, Poland and New Zealand on the Middle East.
We welcome the recent announcement of a ceasefire between
the United States, Israel and Iran, and call on all parties to
implement the ceasefire in full.
The past weeks have brought unacceptable loss of life and
significant disruption to the global economy and financial
markets, and the ceasefire will be crucial to protecting civilian
populations and the security of the region.
We call for a swift and lasting negotiated resolution to
the conflict, and a return to free and safe transit through the
Strait of Hormuz, that mitigates impacts on growth, energy prices
and living standards, in particular for the poorest and
most vulnerable.
Renewed hostilities, a widening of the conflict or continued
disruption in the Strait of Hormuz would pose serious additional
risks to global energy security, supply chains, and economic and
financial stability. Even with a durable resolution of the
conflict, impacts on growth, inflation and markets will
persist.
We are committed to managing the economic response to and
recovery from this crisis in a coordinated, responsible and
responsive way.
With government balance sheets constrained, we commit to ensuring
that any domestic responses must be fiscally responsible and
targeted at those who most need support. We reaffirm our
commitment to open and rules-based trade in energy products. We
commit to avoiding, and call on all countries to avoid,
protectionist actions, including unjustified export controls,
stockpiling and other trade barriers in hydrocarbon and other
supply chains affected by the crisis. We commit to promoting
cooperation and integration to support regional and global
stability. We will also continue reforms that strengthen
resilience and accelerate long-term energy diversification,
including through the clean energy transition and improved energy
efficiency. We welcome any steps countries may take to achieve
these objectives.
We reaffirm the critical role of
international organisations.
We welcome the IMF-World Bank-IEA coordination group and
encourage the institutions to develop a shared assessment of
global economic impacts, including fiscal pressures, supply chain
disruptions, energy markets and food prices, and impacts on
different countries. Vulnerable countries are particularly
impacted, especially small and remote island states that rely on
imported energy to meet basic needs. We call on the IMF and World
Bank to provide a coordinated emergency support offer for
countries in need, tailored to country circumstances and drawing
on the full range and flexibility of their toolkits. We further
welcome advice on domestic responses that are temporary,
targeted, and effective, and encourage work to identify steps
needed to protect long-term growth.
We reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine and our
determination to maintain economic pressure on Russia.
Russia's war in Ukraine, now in its fifth year, continues to
negatively impact the global economy. Russia must not benefit
from this conflict, and as market conditions allow to avoid
exacerbating disruptions to supply chains and energy prices, we
will continue collaborating on ways to increase pressure. We
remain committed to upholding the rules based international
system.
