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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tom Clarke who wrote (39435)	9/23/2000 9:45:52 PM
From: puborectalis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

News Stories Wealthy nations will buy euros if needed but not cut oil taxes Source: Associated Press Publication date: 2000-09-23 PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) -- The global economic superpowers are willing to prop up the euro if they have to, but they won't cut oil taxes to give citizens a break from rising energy bills. Those agreements Saturday from the Group of Seven industrial nations supported actions taken a day earlier to confront two major worries, the sinking euro and soaring oil. Central banks intervened in currency markets Friday to push the euro higher, while U.S. President Bill Clinton decided to tap into an emergency oil stockpile to push oil lower -- and the G-7 said both moves were good. "Oil prices are the biggest cloud in the relatively blue sky of the global economy," U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers told reporters Saturday night. "But I think the fundamentals remain quite good. Seeing oil prices fall would certainly maximize those prospects." Japanese Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said oil was the most important topic the G-7 discussed Saturday, but he added Japan has no plans to sell off any oil reserves to reduce prices. As the top global financial figures gathered in Prague ahead of this week's annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, street demonstrations turned violent Saturday when about 300 anarchists attacked 40 skinheads who were preparing to leave town on a train. No one was seriously hurt, and a day of demonstrations faded in the evening as middle-aged communists sat around in a historic Prague square sipping beer. "I do not want to kill anyone. I just want to scare them away. They are fascists, so I can do that," said Dan Mueller, a young German anarchist who was present during the fight in the city's main train station. Protesters have not thus far turned out by the tens of thousands as some organizers had predicted, but many citizens are frightened and numerous small businesses will stay closed while the World Bank and International Monetary Fund are in town. The G-7, IMF and World Bank are seeking ways to relieve some of the crushing debt burdens faced by the world's poorest nations -- but critics say they are not coming up with the money fast enough, and the red tape is too much for poor countries to handle. Before the G-7 meeting, central banks from the United States, Europe and Japan moved into currency markets on Friday and bought billions of euros, hoping to lift the currency used by 11 European Union members off of the record lows it hit a few days earlier. G-7 ministers and central bankers said Saturday night they would keep an eye on the euro and "cooperate in exchange markets as appropriate." One question that remained unanswered: How does the United States really feel about helping the euro? Summers insisted that the United States still favors a strong dollar despite the fact that it had joined with other countries in an operation that had the effect of lowering the dollar's value against the euro. The G-7 nations said they want to see more oil production from OPEC bring relief from oil prices, which recently climbed to 10-year highs. But cutting the taxes imposed by many wealthy nations, which sharply raise the costs to consumers, was agreed to be out of the question, said German Finance Minister Hans Eicher. OPEC members recently agreed to boost output, but they also have for years pointed to taxes as a major factor in the oil costs endured by consumers. Governments in developing nations have been unwilling to sacrifice the huge revenues they bring in by taxing fuel. Despite the high oil prices, G-7 ministers said the outlook is good for continued economic expansion and they said they were pleased to see robust recovery in Russia. The Associated Press News Service Copyright 2000 by The Associated Press All Rights Reserved