(Bloomberg) — Finance ministers from the world’s largest developed economies slammed Hamas for its attack against Israel.
(Bloomberg) — Finance ministers from the world’s largest developed economies slammed Hamas for its attack against Israel.
“We unequivocally condemn the recent terror attacks by Hamas on the State of Israel and express our solidarity with the Israeli people,” the Group of Seven countries said in a statement on Thursday.
The condemnation came as global finance officials also offered a flurry of concern over the potential economic fallout from the conflict.
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Earlier in the day, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the Hamas-Israel war was “a new cloud” over the world’s economy.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire also told reporters that, given conflict in Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Israel, “geopolitical risk has become the most significant risk for growth, for development and for common prosperity.”
The G-7 statement repeated its support for Ukraine and condemnation of Russia’s invasion, while pledging to ensure that Russia “pays for the long-term reconstruction” of the country.
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The ministers also pledged to “explore” how revenue generated by frozen sovereign Russian assets might be legally redirected to support Ukraine.
This follows remarks from US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday explicitly endorsing a European Union plan to impose a windfall tax on such revenue held in the EU.
Through the first quarter of this year about €750 million of interest and other income generated by the assets had accumulated at settlement giant Euroclear Ltd., based in Belgium. Some EU governments have been waiting for a formal endorsement from the US and G-7 before imposing a windfall tax on that money and effectively seizing it.
(Updates with statement comment on frozen Russian assets in seventh paragraph.)
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