Forex Comments from G20 finance chiefs meeting in Mexico

Forex Comments from G20 finance chiefs meeting in Mexico MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Following are comments from policymakers attending the meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers in Mexico City on Saturday. U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY TIMOTHY GEITHNER 'I think it's important to give Europe's leaders credit for what they have accomplished ... and put in place in terms of the architecture of a credible response in the last four months.' 'They have had a big impact in reducing the downside risks to growth ... though it's important not to rest on that progress.' 'I hope that we're going to see, and I expect we will see, continued efforts by the Europeans ... to put in place a stronger, more credible firewall.' CANADIAN FINANCE MINISTER JIM FLAHERTY 'I do want to encourage Germany to take that leadership role very seriously and come up with an overall euro zone plan.' 'I think that what I'd like to see in the communique is language that indicates that the real question is, when will we see the euro zone plan. And that discussions about other countries through the IMF supporting the euro zone plan should await the answer to the first question.' 'I don't think we're ever going to be able from the outside to impose a deadline on the euro zone. That's up to them.' GERMAN FINANCE MINISTER WOLFGANG SCHAEUBLE 'It does not make any economic sense to follow the calls for proposals which would be mutualizing the interest risk in the euro zone, nor in pumping money into rescue funds, nor in starting up the ECB printing press.' 'I am worried the overriding problems ... have not been tackled sufficiently. We have to be more daring when it comes to these large and fundamental challenges.' 'You know that Greece is a special and unique case...The main difficulty is a serious lack of competitiveness.' JAPANESE FINANCE MINISTER JUN AZUMI 'I'd like to see how Europe will make concrete efforts and then discuss how we can contribute.' 'I said that I expect debate on strengthening of the IMF lending capacity will progress on condition that the problem of Europe's debt crisis is put to an end by the G20 meeting in Washington in April.' 'The present firewall involves strengthening of EFSF and increase of upper cap on ESM. But I said (at G20) that they should be further strengthened.' 'The economy is somewhat picking up in the world as a whole, including Japan, and (we) want to put an end to the Europe crisis in the early spring and to accelerate the global economic growth.' BRAZILIAN FINANCE MINISTER GUIDO MANTEGA 'Emerging countries will only help under two conditions; first that they strengthen their firewall and second for the IMF (quota) reform be implemented.' 'I see most countries sharing a similar opinion that the Europeans have to strengthen their firewall.' JAY COLLINS, SENIOR CITIGROUP EXECUTIVE 'The lack of a firewall decision coming out of Europe takes a toll, speed matters.' 'Speed and urgency is critical.' BANK OF JAPAN GOVERNOR MASAAKI SHIRAKAWA 'Heightening geographical risks and some bright movements in advanced economies after the New Year are factors behind the underlying crude oil price hikes. Of course, monetary easing has been continuing but I don't see it as a major factor for driving up crude oil prices. Generally speaking, we'll closely watch effects and side-effects of monetary easing.' MARK CARNEY, BANK OF CANADA GOVERNOR AND CHAIRMAN OF THE FINANCIAL STABILITY BOARD 'We are cursed with living in extraordinary times. There are two critical challenges that are really facing policymakers at the moment. Restoring growth and stability in Europe. There's been quite appropriately tremendous attention paid to that. But at the same time, just doing that will not be enough.' 'We need to rebuild strong, sustainable, balanced growth in the global economy.' 'One of the issues in these G20 meetings has been that the issue of the moment has often, not surprisingly, crowded out this fundamental medium-term issue.' 'For emerging markets, the weak growth prospects and large accommodative monetary policies in the G3 (major advanced economies) tends to push capital flow towards them, exacerbating concerns about sudden stops and potentially causing a reaction in terms of capital controls.' 'Some emerging markets are reluctant to abandon exchange rate strategies which have served them so well in the past, and so there's a vicious circle here.' BANK OF ITALY GOVERNOR IGNAZIO VISCO 'During the G20 meeting we will discuss the outlook for the global economy and we will probably talk about the developments on the oil markets. Tensions are growing.' 'We have to be vigilant regarding oil.' 'At the moment we don't see the need for a new LTRO by the ECB, but we will have to see the whole effects of the second one (on February 29) before taking a decision.' 'Italy has made remarkable progress on the budget side, now it has to work on growth, even Europe should insist on growth.' OECD SECRETARY-GENERAL ANGEL GURRIA 'The Greek bailout was not a deal, it was an ordeal ... the problem was it came too late.' 'I don't know if Greece's debt target of 120 percent of GDP will be enough -- that will depend on whether Greece delivers on its policies.' 'We have run out of monetary policy room ... we have run out of fiscal room in most countries, some have a little fiscal room now.' 'The ECB's LTRO (long term refinancing operation) is no substitute for a European firewall.' 'It's already six months to a year late... We need a massive European firewall now.' (Compiled by Kieran Murray)