ROME - Inclusive growth will be on top of the agenda of finance ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) members, who gathered on Thursday in the southern city of Bari for a three-day meeting.
Italian Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met behind closed doors in the afternoon, while an official ceremony to welcome the other participants was scheduled at the Petruzzelli theatre in the evening.
In the bilateral talks, Padoan assured his U.S. counterpart the stock of non-performing loans (NPLs) burdening Italy’s banking system would return to more “physiological levels” in short time, Ansa news agency quoted sources from the Italian G7 presidency as saying.
Italy’s bad loans, a pressing issue encompassing the country’s stability within the euro-zone, amounted to about 170 billion euros (184.7 billion U.S. dollars) net, senior deputy governor of Bank of Italy Salvatore Rossi said in April.
The G7 meeting would run from May 11 to May 13 amid tight security measures. Some 1,500 police officers and 600 surveillance cameras were deployed within and around Bari, according to authorities.
Besides the finance ministers, central bank governors from the world’s seven most developed economies will engage in the talks in Bari. (Xinhua)