Global finance leaders hopeful for modest rebound in 2020

Global finance leaders agree that growth has slowed but they remain hopeful for a modest rebound next year as long as trade and geopolitical tensions do not worsen.

That was the assessment Friday from finance ministers and central bank governors of the Group of 20 major industrial countries.

Those officials met ahead of discussions Saturday with the policy-setting panels of the 189-nation International Monetary Fund and the its sister lending organization, the World Bank.

The leaders of those two organizations appealed to their member countries on Friday to resolve the widening disagreements on trade, climate change and other issues, warning that the continued diversions threatened to worsen the current global slowdown.

Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso, the current chair of the G-20 finance group, said while current conditions are less than optimal, there was still optimism that conditions will improve.

Speaking to reporters at a news conference after the G-20 discussions ended, Aso said, "We broadly agreed that the global economic expansion continues, but its pace remains weak."

Aso said the group felt that the risks remained weighted to the downside with the major threats coming from trade wars and geopolitical tensions. But he said the expectation was that growth would pick up in 2020.

Japan served as chair of the G-20 this year, a position that will be taken by Saudi Arabia in 2020.

The United States is represented at the meetings by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.