SEOUL, South Korea — Russia is concerned that the global economy is "unstable and unbalanced" and some countries are weakening their currencies to stimulate growth, a source with the country's delegation to the G20 Summit said Thursday.
"We are especially worried by attempts by a number of countries to take unilateral decisions to weaken their currencies in order to stimulate growth without agreement with other partners," the source said.
"We believe that such steps lead to nervousness among market players and volatility of main currencies, prompting fears of global 'currency wars.'"
Russia also rejected an idea floated by the United States earlier for numerical targets to be set for trade imbalances, which appears to have been taken off the table after drawing little support.
"Russia does not support the U.S. proposal to introduce limits on the current account deficit or surplus of 4 percent of GDP in the short or medium term," the Russia source said.
"There is risk that lack of clear, solid and all-encompassing plans of fiscal consolidation by the countries issuing reserve currencies can contribute to uncertainty and weaken confidence in financial markets."
