G20 leaders on Thursday (26/3) said they were committed to presenting a united front against the coronavirus pandemic, calling it their "absolute priority" to tackle its health, social and economic impacts, France24 reported.
During the 90-minute video conference, hosted remotely by G20 chairman and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saudi, to discuss the impact of the coronavirus crisis, leaders of the world's major economies said they were committed to restoring confidence, preserving financial stability and reviving growth.
According to Bloomberg, Coordination among G20 countries was instrumental for action to stabilize the global economy during the financial crisis that started in 2008.
"We are injecting over US$5 trillion into the global economy, as part of targeted fiscal policy, economic measures, and guarantee schemes to counteract the social, economic and financial impacts of the pandemic," the leaders said in a statement after an emergency online summit.
They also pledged to work swiftly with multilateral bodies, such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Health Organization and regional banks, to deploy a "robust" financial package to support developing nations.
In a statement after the video call, Indonesian President Joko Widodo referred to two “wars” the world was facing: against the virus and against the weakening of the world economy.
“G20 must actively lead efforts to find anti-virus and Covid-19 drugs,” he said, quoted by Bloomberg.
At the same time, “we must prevent a global economic recession, through coordinated fiscal and monetary policies, and expand and strengthen social safety nets.”
Indonesia was among the latest to step up its battle against the coronavirus as the archipelago had just announced its first confirmed COVID-19 cases on March 2, weeks after many other countries around the world announced their first positive cases on their soil.
According to The Jakarta Post, With 1,046 confirmed cases and 87 fatalities as of Friday, Indonesia's death toll is now the highest in Southeast Asia and its mortality rate of 8.3 percent is among the highest in the world.
The statement came at the end of an extraordinary, 90-minute video conference convened by the world's major economies to coordinate action over the outbreak that has infected more than 470,000 people and killed more than 21,000 worldwide.
The G20 members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Republic of Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union (EU).
