New Zealand Finance Minister Hon Grant Robertson today hosted a call with his counterparts from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.
We shared experiences of using monetary and fiscal policy in our respective countries, as part of our Governments’ economic responses to COVID-19. All nations have undertaken significant fiscal stimulus programmes to protect households, support businesses and build a base for recovery. This is being complemented by major monetary policy interventions from independent central banks to support the functioning of the financial system and the flow of credit.
The meeting was highly productive, and highlighted similar economic challenges our countries are facing as a result of the ongoing pandemic. In particular, we acknowledged the importance of mutually reinforcing monetary and fiscal policies to support our responses to COVID-19. We agreed that these were working well together in our respective responses.
The meeting was the fourth in a series of regular calls between the five Finance Ministers, which focus on economic issues associated with COVID-19.
The sharing of experiences between like-minded partners is valuable, particularly as we collectively face common economic challenges caused by the global pandemic, which require monetary and fiscal responses. We will continue to discuss our respective responses and experiences as we rebuild our economies from COVID-19.