Banks urged to disclose losses

Plea comes as ministers and central bank chiefs of G7 powers discuss subprime crisis.

Darling said each country would take action 'appropriate' to their economy [EPA]

9 Feb 2008

“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, News Agencies