G7 finance summit kicks off seeking unity on Ukraine, China

Reuters:

STRESA, Italy, May 24 – Finance chiefs from the Group of Seven industrial democracies began a two-day meeting in Italy on Friday seeking to present a common front on the need to provide a loan to Ukraine and oppose China’s “unfair” industrial policies.

However, comments from officials ahead of the gathering in Stresa, northern Italy, suggest no hard details will emerge on a U.S push for a loan to Ukraine backed by the future income from some $300 billion of frozen Russian assets.

“We will be putting a proposal to use the windfall profits for the Russian assets for the years to come,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told reporters ahead of the opening session, a broad review of the global economy.

“So let’s compare the proposals. Let’s see what is the most convenient, the most efficient, the most rapid proposal that could be put in place,” Le Maire said.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said a loan could amount to some $50 billion, but that no amounts have been agreed. Other G7 officials involved in the negotiations voiced caution, citing thorny legal and technical aspects to be hammered out.

The ministers will be joined on Saturday by Ukraine’s Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko, whose war-torn country is struggling to contain a Russian offensive in the north and the east, more than two years after Moscow invaded its neighbour.

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said many questions remained open on the loan proposal and he did not expect the G7 to reach any concrete decision in Stresa.