WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department’s top international official is heading to Europe and Asia this week for talks on current macroeconomic trends and events, and a G7 finance officials meeting, Treasury said in a statement on Thursday.
Treasury Undersecretary for International Affairs Jay Shambaugh will attend meetings of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris on Friday, before traveling on to Singapore and Japan, Treasury said.
In Singapore, Shambaugh will meet with officials from the finance ministry and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, to talk about macroeconomic priorities, climate finance, digital assets, and regional issues, Treasury said.
He will also visit Tokyo, Japan for bilateral talks on shared priorities on issues of sovereign debt concerns, trade, regulation and climate finance ahead of the Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers and central bankers meeting taking place in Niigata, Japan from May 11-13.
The meeting takes place a month after the International Monetary Fund trimmed its 2023 global growth outlook slightly and warned that a severe flare-up of financial system turmoil could slash output to near recessionary levels.
The IMF is now forecasting global real GDP growth at 2.8% for 2023 and 3.0% for 2024, marking a sharp slowdown from 3.4% growth in 2022 due to tighter monetary policy.
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Shambaugh will join U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at the G7 meeting in Niigata, Treasury said.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)