Bush Pushes G-7 Countries on Reducing Rates, but Gets Unenthusiastic Response
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration failed to garner much support from other leading industrialized countries for its push to lower world interest rates.</br></br>In a statement late yesterday, the finance ministers and central bank presidents of the so-called Group of Seven industrial nations -- the U.S., Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada -- sought to paper over deep differences between the U.S. Treasury and its partners over interest-rate policies.</br></br>The G-7 statement, which followed about six hours of talks, recommended "a medium-term strategy" that uses monetary and fiscal policy "to provide the basis for lower interest rates and a sustained global economic recovery with price stability."</br></br>The eight-paragraph statement said the G-7 "agreed to monitor the situation closely and to take actions as needed within the coordination process with a view to achieving a sound recovery and a growing world economy."</br></br>But Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady took some comfort from the G-7 gathering and said afterward at a news conference that he wasn't disappointed by its outcome. He noted that the G-7 statement emphasized the importance of monetary and fiscal policies that provide the basis for "lower real interest rates" coupled with "price stability."