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Finance ministers to review plans
10/06/2001
By HARRY DUNPHY WASHINGTON — Finance ministers from the world's seven richest industrialized
nations gathered Saturday to discuss the weakening global economy and develop
better strategies to choke off the flow of money to terrorist organizations.
Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, acting as host with Federal Reserve Chairman
Alan Greenspan, held a series of one-on-one conversations with his counterparts
before the start of the afternoon session of the full Group of Seven. French Finance Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters that the G-7 would be
exploring ``the general situation in regard to the slowdown of the economy and
the fight against funding terrorism.'' The European Central Bank, which sets monetary policy for the 12 countries
sharing the new euro currency, has already cut interest rates once since the
Sept. 11 attacks. Fabius said more rate cuts were possible. ``My own view of that is there is no risk of inflation and therefore there
are still margins for maneuver,'' he told reporters. Canadian Finance Minister Paul Martin said it was important for the major
economies to show a united front against terrorism and to do what they could to
support growth. He said he wanted to explore ideas with O'Neill, who oversees the U.S.
Customs Service, to make sure that increased security at the U.S.-Canadian
border did not disrupt the flow of commerce between the two countries.
O'Neill said the United States was prepared to pay any cost to win the battle
against terrorism. ``No matter what it costs, our economy is so strong and our potential so
great that whatever the cost is, we'll suck it up and be able to absorb it
without doing damage to a 3 percent or 3.5 percent real growth rate,'' O'Neill
told reporters in a preview of the sessions. The G-7 countries are the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain,
Italy and Canada. O'Neill said he has asked Russian Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin to
participate more fully in the G-7 meetings to underline the need for a
broad-based alliance against terrorism. Kudrin told reporters he had pledged in a meeting with O'Neill on Friday that
Russia would cooperate fully in the effort to freeze terrorist assets. O'Neill said he planned to tell the other finance ministers that the U.S.
economy will drop into negative territory in the July-September quarter because
of the Sept. 11 attacks but should then stage a quick rebound. He said this economic recovery will be aided by the interest rate cuts and
earlier tax cuts passed by Congress and an additional stimulus package that the
administration is working with lawmakers to put into place. The Bush administration is working on a list that could double the number of
individuals and groups being targeted in the campaign to cut off money to
terrorists, said government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The officials said the new list, which is expected to be released early next
week, could contain between 24 and 27 new entities. Bush on Sept. 24 ordered a
freeze on the assets of 27 people and organizations suspected of conducting or
financing terrorist activities, including those of Saudi exile Osama bin Laden.
The U.S. government considers bin Laden the prime suspect in the Sept. 11
attacks.
Associated Press Writer