BRUSSELS — Two Group of 20 meetings this month — first in Busan, South Korea, for finance ministers, and next in Toronto for heads of government, mark the moment when the major players in the world economy shift gear from budgetary stimulus to retrenchment. Not everyone agrees.
Before the Busan meeting, U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner warned against "a generalized, undifferentiated move to pull forward consolidation plans," and emphasized the need to "proceed in step with the strengthening of the private-sector recovery."
Other finance ministers did not echo Geithner's warnings. Instead, they emphasized the "importance of sustainable public finances" and the need for "measures to deliver fiscal sustainability." Gone is the stress on cautious, gradually phased-in exit strategies.