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Finance Ministers Gather in Toronto
Finance ministers from 34 Western Hemisphere nations gathered Tuesday to discuss the slowing U.S. economy and other fiscal issues ahead of this month's Summit of the Americas.
The agenda for Wednesday's one-day meeting includes promoting sound fiscal policy in developing countries and fighting money laundering. But the United States' economic slowdown and its effect on the global economy were the expected focus of the summit.
Also planned was a discussion on global economic conditions, with the finance ministers from North, Central and South America �� except Cuba �� seeking an assessment from Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill of the slowdown in the region's dominant economy.
The U.S. economic slowdown may be worse than originally forecast, Claudio Loser, the International Monetary Fund director for Western Hemisphere affairs, said Tuesday. The IMF first predicted 2 percent growth this year, but Loser said the expected figure now was 1.5 percent to 1.7 percent.
Loser also said the IMF scaled back its 2001 Latin American growth forecast to a range of 3.5 percent to 3.9 percent after previously reducing it from 4.5 percent down to 3.9 percent due to the U.S. economy.
Elsewhere, Argentina is in its third year of recession, and Brazil and Chile are cutting their projected economic growth rates for this year.
Wednesday's meeting precedes the April 20-22 summit in Quebec City, where heads of state will discuss the creation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement, a trade zone that would stretch from Alaska to Patagonia.
President Bush wants fast-track authority from Congress to proceed quickly on the agreement.
However, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Tuesday that his country sides with Brazil in wanting to strengthen the South American trade bloc Mercosur before starting the FTAA. Mercosur now includes Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, plus associate members Chile and Bolivia.
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