G7 bid to calm currency war fears

The Group of Seven nations is considering releasing a statement on exchange rates this week to calm concern the world is on the brink of a currency war, said three officials from G7 countries.

Finance officials from the world’s major industrial economies have drafted a text now under review by senior policymakers, one official said. The current wording, which may be changed, contains commitments to market-set exchange rates and an agreement that governments do not use fiscal or monetary policy to drive currencies, the official said.

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s push for more aggressive monetary policy has raised concern abroad that his government is directly seeking to weaken the yen, something it denies. In the talks, Japan has questioned the statement’s contents because it does not want to be singled out for criticism, said another official from a G7 nation.