G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors met yesterday and today in Washington DC during the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings. It seems that recent news headlines relating to widespread use of off-shore tax havens by so-called global elites to shield their wealth, prompted the G20 officials to strengthen their pledge to implement measures to combat exploitation of tax law mismatches and improve tax information sharing. They said “defensive measures will be considered by G20 members against non-cooperative jurisdictions” if progress toward these goals is not made.
On the G20’s commitment to the OECD BEPS package, leaders encouraged relevant countries and jurisdictions to join the new inclusive framework on an equal footing, and affirmed the importance of effective and widespread implementation of the internationally agreed standards on transparency. In this connection, it called on all relevant countries – including all financial centres and jurisdictions – which have not committed to implement the standard on automatic exchange of information by 2017 or 2018 to do so without delay and to sign the Multilateral Convention. The FATF and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes have been asked to make initial proposals by the October G20 meeting on ways to improve the implementation of the international standards on transparency, including on the availability of beneficial ownership information, and its international exchange.
The OECD submitted an [Update on Tax Transparency](https://www.oecd.org/tax/oecd-secretary-general-tax-report-g20-finance-ministers-april-2016.pdf) report to the G20 Finance Ministers.
The G20 financial leaders also warned that global growth was “modest and uneven” and threatened by weakness in commodities-based economies. In a communique issued after their meetings concluded today in Washington, repeated pledges to “use fiscal policy flexibly” to strengthen growth, job creation and confidence, and affirmed that member countries “will continue to explore policy options,” adding that they would be “tailored to country circumstances.”
Read the communique [here](http://wjb.mof.gov.cn/pindaoliebiao/gongzuodongtai/201604/t20160416_1952794.html).
**About the G20**
The Group of Twenty or the G20, is the premier forum for international economic cooperation and an important mechanism for global economic governance. The Group is entrusted with the critical mission of addressing economic risks and challenges, promoting world economic growth, improving global economic governance and sharing development benefits amongst people across the world. It is committed to an open world economy with a strong partnership among members and beyond. The G-20 operates without a permanent secretariat or staff. The group’s chair rotates annually among the members and is selected from a different regional grouping of countries. China holds the chair for 2016.