France is hoping to win agreement on a list of indicators to identify and reduce trade imbalances when it hosts a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of 20 leading economies this weekend.
Christine Lagarde, French finance minister, told the Financial Times that “a combination of political posture and positioning” was making progress difficult just days ahead of the first such gathering of France’s G20 presidency
However, France was hoping to be able to win backing for a list that would identify imbalances concerning most countries and avoid singling out individual economies, said senior officials. These might include deficit and debt indicators, current account balances and credit growth alerts.