G-20 calls for global coordination to rein in high oil prices: Report

The Group of 20 industrialized and emerging economies on Sunday called for greater policy coordination between oil producing and consuming nations to rein in "long lasting high and volatile oil prices," which they see as a major risk to world economic growth, the Kyodo news reported.

"We are concerned that long lasting high and volatile oil prices could increase inflationary pressures, slow down growth, and cause instability in the global economy," the G-20 said in a joint statement issued after a two-day meeting in Xianghe outside Beijing.

The G-20 economies -- which include major oil producers, such as Saudi Arabia, and big oil consumers, such as the United States and China -- agreed on the need to boost investment in oil production and refining capacity, promote energy-saving and alternative energy sources, and reduce fuel subsidies as a way of stabilizing high oil prices, it said.

Oil prices have been staying at near record-high levels above $60 a barrel, and have shown few signs of abating from recent levels.

Along with high oil prices, the G-20 also cited "widening global imbalances and rising protectionist sentiments" as other major risks to the world economy, urging major economies to assume "shared responsibilities" to address such challenges.

"We are determined to implement the necessary fiscal, monetary and exchange rate policies, and accelerate structural adjustments to resolve these imbalances and overcome these risks," the statement said.

The message is taken as a call on China to loosen its grip on its currency, the yuan, in pursuing a more flexible, market-driven yuan over time, as requested by the United States and other Group of Seven nations.

In this context, the G-20 also indirectly urged the United States to cut government debts and increase national savings and Japan and Europe to advance structural reforms.

On oil, the G-20 economies said they "stress the need to increase investment, production, and refining capacities, and to enhance dialogue between oil suppliers and consumers through the relevant fora, such as the International Energy Forum."

The IEF is a Riyadh-based forum for energy-producing and energy-consuming countries.

"We also need to strengthen oil market transparency to improve market efficiency" to curb continued highs in oil prices, the statement says.

Representing 63 percent of the world's population and 80 percent of global output, the G-20 brings together the G-7 countries --Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- and Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the European Union. (*)