US can't be sole engine of economic growth: Obama
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Washington (dpa) - Ahead of the G20 summit in Turkey, US President Barack Obama has called for more cooperation among the most powerful economies.
In an opinion piece published in the Financial Times Friday, Obama said while the United States is ready to lead global efforts to increase the number of jobs and bring about stronger growth and sustained prosperity, it cannot be the sole engine of global growth.
"Other countries have to step up," he writes. "If the world relies excessively on the American consumer, it will jeopardise the sustainability of the global recovery."
Obama also recalls how seven years ago, the G20 acted to avert a global depression and rebuild the global economy on a more resilient footing.
"If there is anything the past seven years have taught us, it is that we all have a stake in each other's success," Obama writes.
He complains that the global economy is growing too slowly. The G20 countries recognised this last year, he writes, but it is even more pronounced today.
"That is why, at next week's summit, my message will be clear: We have to take action to strengthen growth in a way that benefits allour people."
The US president lays out a number of ways in which the group can act, including implementing fiscal policy that supports short-term demand and invests in the future, boosting demand by putting more money into the pockets of middle-class consumers and supporting more inclusive growth with trade agreements.
