NIIGATA, Japan, May 13 (Xinhua) — Group of Seven (G7) finance chiefs on Saturday warned of heightened uncertainty and vowed to take actions to ensure financial stability amid concerns following U.S. bank failures.

In a joint statement issued after their meeting in the Japanese city of Niigata, the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors said they “need to remain vigilant and stay agile and flexible in our macroeconomic policy amid heightened uncertainty about the global economic outlook.”

The three-day gathering that concluded on Saturday was overshadowed by concerns about the U.S. debt ceiling deadlock, which was made no mention of the statement.

“We will continue to work closely with supervisory and regulatory authorities to monitor financial sector developments and stand ready to take appropriate actions to maintain financial stability and the resilience of the global financial system,” said the statement.

G7 central bank chiefs also vowed to fight elevated inflation and ensure inflation expectations remain well anchored, according to the joint statement.

The Japanese central bank will persist with monetary easing because inflation, currently above its target, will start to slow later this year, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda, who took the helm in April, was quoted as saying at the G7 gathering by national news agency Kyodo on Saturday.

The meeting was held in the runup to the G7 leaders’ summit in Hiroshima from May 19 to May 21.

Source(s): Xinhua

CHANGSHA, May 8 (Xinhua) — A total of 113 projects with a combined investment of about 75 billion yuan (10.84 billion U.S. dollars) were signed during a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) economic and trade expo held in central China’s Hunan Province.

The event that kicked off on May 4 in the province’s Huaihua City has served as a new platform for exchanges and cooperation between RCEP member countries and China’s provincial-level regions along the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, which is a trade and logistics passage jointly built by provincial-level regions in western China and ASEAN members, according to the organizer.

The four-day expo attracted over 600 renowned enterprises and more than 1,000 purchasers from home and abroad, including 112 companies from 14 other RCEP member countries.

With diversified offline and online activities, the expo had more than 2,000 varieties of featured products from RCEP member countries on display in the city’s international convention center.

Huaihua is the province’s only node city along the corridor and a freight assembly center for ASEAN countries.

Source(s): Xinhua