Flaherty: G20 countries will work on specifics but committed to fiscal targets

WASHINGTON – Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says the G20 countries are committed to establishing hard fiscal targets as a way to achieve a balance between economic growth and decreased deficits.

But they have not been able to agree yet on what the specific targets should be, Flaherty said following a G20 finance policy meeting in Washington.

He says he had hoped the language used in the meeting’s communique would “stronger” but added that it was “sufficient” to move the issue forward at the upcoming G20 leaders summit in Russia next September.

The issue of hard fiscal targets were first raised during the G20 summit in Toronto in 2010.

Flaherty said now is not a time to be “complacent” about economic policy — five years following the onset of the global financial crisis.