Finance minister: Recent events highlight need for economic resilience and production diversification

Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan stated that the global economy has demonstrated resilience in the face of shocks, but has also become more vulnerable to risks. He noted that recent experiences have highlighted the importance of strengthening economic flexibility by diversifying production alternatives, ensuring the availability of reserves, and maintaining infrastructure with spare capacity, as these form the first line of economic defense against shocks.

Al-Jadaan, speaking at the conclusion of the second G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting held under the United States presidency, emphasized the need to enhance economies' ability to achieve strong and sustainable long-term growth.

The finance minister pointed out that growth constraints vary from one economy to another and change as economies develop. He explained that boosting growth potential requires identifying the most significant constraints at each stage and adapting policies and reforms to address the evolving nature of these challenges.

Al-Jadaan also participated in the "Global Imbalances" session, where he stressed that external surpluses and deficits may reflect differing circumstances and economic structures among countries, and do not necessarily indicate an imbalance. He noted that effectively addressing global imbalances requires looking beyond trade flows to include domestic financial and economic conditions and the underlying structural factors.

In the "Sovereign Debt" session, Al-Jadaan said that building a more robust international framework for addressing debt challenges is not limited to improving responses to debt crises in vulnerable countries, but also involves limiting the accumulation of debt that does not contribute to sustainable economic and developmental returns.

The finance minister stressed that enhancing countries' abilities to assess their financing needs and manage debt sustainability is a key pillar in preventing liquidity pressures from escalating into deeper debt crises.

In a closed-door discussion, Al-Jadaan and other finance ministers and central bank governors exchanged views with private sector leaders in artificial intelligence, recognizing their role as drivers of innovation, productivity, and economic growth.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Al-Jadaan held several bilateral meetings with his counterparts from participating countries and senior officials from international financial institutions. These discussions covered global economic developments, financial issues of mutual interest, and opportunities to enhance cooperation and exchange expertise in economic and financial fields.

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