Finance Ministers May Meet on Dollar's Fall; Group of Five Representatives Could Convene in Europe Within Two Weeks
The Group of Five major industrial nations may meet within the next two weeks to discuss the recent decline of the dollar and its impact on the global economy.</br></br>The Group of Five includes the finance ministers and central bankers of the United States, Japan, West Germany, France and Great Britain.</br></br>According to Japanese news agencies-normally close to government officials-the G-5 meeting may take place in Paris on Saturday, Feb. 7, at the conclusion of a trip by Treasury Secretary James A. Baker III to Saudi Arabia.</br></br>Baker, asked about the report during an appearance last night on the McNeil-Lehrer News Hour, said, "We don't comment on plans for future G-5 meetings, but as we sit here, there are no present plans for such a meeting."</br></br>Baker again said he was not "talking the dollar down," and has not done so for about a year. But he indicated he was prepared to accept a further decline through market forces. That decline has been orderly, except for the "instability" of the past few weeks, Baker said. "But at some point, it could reach a point where we don't want it to go."