Finance chiefs from the Group of 20 nations will conclude their talks on Friday as the escalating conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas adds to uncertainty over the global economy.
The two-day meeting in the Moroccan city of Marrakech came as central banks in major economies have been aggressively raising interest rates to tame inflation and many G20 members grapple with the repercussions of Russia's war on Ukraine that has sent fuel and raw materials costs higher.
A slowdown in China, one of the G20 members, is also casting a pall over the global outlook, with the International Monetary Fund and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development both projecting growth to slow sharply this year from 2022.
The sudden raid on Israel by Hamas on Saturday has led to a flare-up in tensions in the Middle East and geopolitical concerns have spread in financial markets.
Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki and Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda are among the participants of the gathering held on the fringes of IMF meetings.
The Group of Seven finance leaders, meeting Thursday in Morocco, unequivocally condemned what they termed "terror attacks" and expressed solidarity with Israel.
The G20 faces a critical challenge as an effective forum for policy coordination in times of crisis, having been mired in deep divisions since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year, primarily between Western nations and Russia and China.
The G7, involving the United States, major European nations and Japan, has been strengthening sanctions on Russia. Inflation in these advanced economies has been accelerating partly due to the Ukraine war, just as the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic eases.
The meeting of G20 finance chiefs is the first since their leaders managed to produce a joint declaration when they met in New Delhi last month, though they avoided directly criticizing Russia's invasion.
Under the presidency of India, major G20 agenda items include addressing debt vulnerabilities in developing nations, reforming multinational development banks and regulating crypto assets.
The G20 includes the G7 members -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States plus the European Union -- along with major developing countries such as Brazil, China, India, and Russia among others.
