ASHEVILLE — Saudi Minister of Finance Mohammed Al-Jadaan attended the second Meeting of the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors under the US G20 Presidency, which concluded in Asheville, North Carolina, on Tuesday.The two-day from meeting brought together finance ministers and central bank governors from G20 member nations, representatives of invited countries, and heads of international financial institutions. During a session entitled "Current Economic Developments," Al-Jadaan emphasized that the global economy has demonstrated resilience but has also become more vulnerable. He noted that recent shocks have confirmed that securing alternative production, ensuring the availability of inventories, and maintaining infrastructure with spare capacity constitute the first line of economic defense. In another session entitled "Growth," Al-Jadaan emphasized the importance of strengthening the capacity of economies to achieve strong and sustainable growth over the long term, noting that the constraints on growth differ across economies and evolve as they develop. He stressed the need to identify the most binding constraints at each stage and adapt policy responses accordingly. Participating in the session entitled "Global Imbalances," the finance minister emphasized that external surpluses and deficits reflect different economic conditions and structures between countries and do not necessarily represent an imbalance in themselves. He noted that effectively addressing global imbalances requires looking beyond trade flows, including domestic financial and economic conditions and the structural factors that cause them. During a session entitled "Sovereign Debt," he stressed that building a more robust international system to address debt challenges is not only about dealing more effectively with crises in fragile countries, but also requires reducing the accumulation of borrowing that does not contribute to sustainable economic and development returns. He added that strengthening countries' capacities to assess their financing needs and manage debt sustainability is a key pillar in preventing liquidity pressures from turning into deeper crises. In a closed dialogue session, Al-Jadaan, along with finance ministers and central bank governors, exchanged views with prominent private sector figures in the field of artificial intelligence, considering their role in innovation, productivity, and economic growth. On the sidelines of the meeting, Al-Jadaan held several bilateral meetings with counterparts from participating countries, as well as senior officials from international financial institutions. The discussions covered global economic trends, financial issues of mutual interest, and opportunities to strengthen cooperation and exchange expertise across economic and financial fields.The Saudi delegation to the meeting was headed by Al-Jadaan, and included the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) Governor of Ayman Alsayari, along with a number of officials from the Ministry of Finance and SAMA.
