Economy, G7 | featured news

Finance officials from major industrial countries, seeking to calm nervous global markets, pledged Sunday to increase cooperation on attacking economic problems.

The euro and growth-linked currencies fell Monday as investors unwound risky trades amid growing worries about eurozone's debt problems, dismissing assurances from European finance ministers at the weekend.

Finance chiefs from the G7 powers said on Friday the global economy may be pulling out of the depths of a recession although recovery was not yet assured, and they pledged to make certain big financial firms are sound.

Predictions have the major emerging markets—Brazil, Russia, India and China, a.k.a. the BRICs—overtaking the combined GDP of the G7 nations by 2027, nearly a decade sooner than the forecast in a landmark study a few years back.

Leading industrial countries say stabilising financial markets and the world economy is their top priority.

The Group of Seven will release its latest statement on Valentine's Day. Will anyone be listening?