Lawson Says G-7 to Review Paris Accord Next Week

The Group of Seven industrialised countries will make use of next week’s International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington to evaluate the Paris accord on currency stabilisation, U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson told reporters.

“On Tuesday I shall be going to Washington for meetings of the (IMF) Interim Committee and Development Committee, and we shall of course be having a meeting of the G-7,” Lawson said.

“And on the G-7, although there is no formal agenda, I would imagine that the first thing we do would be to review how the Paris accord has gone since it was agreed in February.”

Lawson said G-7 finance ministers will be reviewing medium-term economic objectives and projections involving domestic and external variables. Also examined will be performance indicators for each country.

The Paris accord set objectives for such sectors as growth, inflation, current account and trade balances, budget performances, monetary conditions and exchange rates.

Lawson said “At both the G-7 and the Interim Committee we will undoubtedly be discussing the debt problem. Clearly the debt problem is still with us, and still with us in quite a big way.”