UPDATED ON:
Saturday, February 09, 2008
08:46 Mecca time, 05:46 GMT
 
Business
Banks urged to disclose losses
Darling said each country would take action 'appropriate' to their economy [EPA]

Finance ministers from the "Group of Seven" rich nations have urged banks to come clean over their subprime-related losses, according to a draft statement.
 
The ministers and central bank heads of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US met in Tokyo on Saturday, to discuss the global economy, amid concerns of a slowdown.
Despite the meeting, analysts say a co-ordinated move by the G7 to bolster their economies is unlikely.
 
"Where co-ordinated action is found to be necessary, we will do all that is needed," Alistair Darling, Britain's finance minister, said in an interview with the UK's Financial Times daily.
"We are all after the same thing and this is to restore stability."
 
In an interview with Japan's Nikkei daily, Henry Paulson, the US treasury secretary, said banks should take losses and raise capital quickly to alleviate a credit crunch.
 
"The worst thing is if they don't raise capital, if they shrink their balance sheet and then restrain their lending," he said.
 
But pledges to work together contrast with divisions between the countries over fiscal policy.
 
US rate-cut
 
Many in Europe privately expressed concern over the US Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate-cutting stance, after it slashed 1.25 percentage points off of the federal funds rate in less than 10 days in January.
 
On Thursday, the US congress passed a major stimulus package aimed at reviving the economy.
 
But Washington's calls for other major economies to take similar action have met resistance.
 
"The actions that the US Federal Reserve and president [George] Bush have taken are appropriate to the US," Darling said separately in Tokyo.
 
"Other countries are not in that position and will take appropriate action for their own economies."
 
One analyst told Al Jazeera that there was no "single fix" that was applicable to every economy.
 
"There's no such thing as a single fix today, simply because the conditions on the ground for the different economic regions in the world are very different," Yuwa Hendrick-Wong, an economic adviser to Mastercard Worldwide, said.
 
"Different authorities will have to take different types of action."
 
Currency issues
 
The G7 powers are also expected to discuss currency issues, in previous meetings the group has emphasised the need for China to allow its yuan currency to appreciate more quickly.
 
But the group is expected to avoid commenting on the sliding dollar.
 
"Perhaps I wouldn't have much hope on that point," Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister, said when asked whether any currencies other than the yuan would be publicly singled out by the G7.
 
Many G7 leaders think the weak yuan gives China an unfair trade advantage and have called on Beijing to step up domestic investment to help rebalance the world economy.
 Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
 
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