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The G20 Must Speak Truth to Putin

At their upcoming meeting, G20 finance ministers and central bank governors will need to address the global spike in food prices, which in turn will require an acknowledgment of the facts about Russia’s war in Ukraine. A communiqué that papers over these realities would cast additional doubt on the group’s future.

BERKELEY – The next big test of the G20’s credibility will come when (or if) its finance ministers and central bank governors meet for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund spring meetings on April 18-24. As the leading forum for international economic policy cooperation today, the G20 will have a crowded agenda. Top-line issues include central bank responses to escalating global inflation; accumulating evidence of rapid climate change; and coordination of health and fiscal policy. But the bear in the room will be Russia’s brutal assault on Ukraine and its economic repercussions, starting with its effect on world food prices.

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