Why the G7 still matters to the global economy

Why the G7 still matters to the global economy

The meeting dealt with the biggest issues of our time: The COVID-19 pandemic, building back the global economy after its worst recession since the Second World War, climate change and a myriad of other social and economic issues like global taxation for the world's largest companies and equal access to education. The summit was all about building back better, more sustainably, more fairly and more equitably as its host, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, never tired of pointing out. The leaders emphasized that they would continue to support their economies for as long as it took, beyond the $12 trillion in stimulus that they had already shelled out, which stands in stark contrast to the calls for austerity after the financial crisis of 2008/2009. As always, when you have several parties to a dialogue, not everybody gets everything they want. While the communique sets out that the G7 would provide 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the developing world, what was actually pledged during the gathering fell short by more than 300 million doses. It also is much less than the 11 billion doses the World Health Organization estimates it will take to vaccinate the world. On climate, the