Government Economic Forums
Expert reviewed • 21 July 2024 • 5 minute read
What are Government Economic Forums?
Government Economic Forums are groups containing member countries, which play a significant role in shaping global economic policies and addressing international issues. Forums such as the G20 and the G7/8 provide platforms where leaders discuss and develop strategies for managing global economic issues.
G20
The G20, also known as the Group of 20, is an international economic forum that includes the world's largest economies. Among this forum, the economies of Argentina, Italy, Japan, Australia, Brazil, the European Union and more, come together to establish a united stance on significant economic issues.
The G20 focuses on a wide range of economic issues, including trade, investment, financial stability, sustainable development, and global health. For example, the G20 took several actions to support countries in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. These include:
- Injecting over $5 trillion into the global economy through fiscal and monetary measures.
- Establishing the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) to provide debt relief to the poorest countries.
- Launching the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) to accelerate the development and distribution of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics.
To signify the importance of the G20, the following pie chart displays their influence as a group over the global economy. From the graph we can see that the global GDP of the groups that are part of the G20 combined, make up 85% of the global economy's GDP.
G7/8
The G7, which becomes the G8 with the inclusion of Russia, includes the world's largest advanced economies, as defined by the IMF. These include: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, Canada and Russia. The reason that this economic forum is referred to as the G7/8 is because Russia was suspended following their invasion of Ukraine.
Similar to the G20, the main goals of the G7/8 are to bring economies together to discuss stances against economic issues. They address issues including economic growth, trade, energy, climate change, and security. In recent years, the G7/8 has taken actions to address global challenges, such as:
- Committing to phase out unabated coal power generation and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies by 2025 to combat climate change.
- Launching the Build Back Better World (B3W) partnership to mobilise private-sector capital for infrastructure investment in developing countries.
- Pledging to donate 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to developing countries by the end of 2022.