The key issues agreed to at the summit were: the reform of the international financial institutions such as the World Bank and IMF; the conclusion of the global free trade agreement; improvement in financial market transparency; changing incentives so that excessive risk taking is no longer rewarded; drawing up a list of financial institutions that could result in systematic failure; and strengthening financial market regulation.
Let me begin by looking at economic activity.1 Real gross domestic product contracted in both the fourth quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. While that didn't constitute a recession in the sense of a pervasive fall in economic output, the high inflation and, in particular, the very high energy prices at times really put the brakes on economic activity.