G20 finance chiefs to tackle eurozone crisis

Greece’s Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, right, and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel speak to each other after their statements to the media at the Maximos mansion in Athens, on Oct. 9, 2012. Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 top economies will gather in Mexico City on Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012, as debt-riddled Greece continues to trouble Europe while Spain fights off pressure to seek a bailout. AP PHOTO/THANASSIS STAVRAKIS, POOL

MEXICO CITY—G20 finance chiefs begin Sunday two days of talks aimed at quelling fears of a global economic downturn amid a persistent eurozone debt crisis and a looming fiscal crunch in the United States.

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 top economies will gather in Mexico City as debt-riddled Greece continues to trouble Europe while Spain fights off pressure to seek a bailout.

While Madrid avoids the bailout route, the problems in Greece are still haunting Europe’s single currency, more than two years after Athens received its first multibillion-euro rescue.

Greek officials are locked in tough negotiations with European Union and IMF auditors over austerity measures Greece must take in return for a bailout payment it needs to avoid defaulting on its debt.

While the fiscal situation in the United States is also a major concern, officials do not expect any movement on that front until after Tuesday’s US presidential election.

The White House and Congress need to find a compromise by the end of the year to avoid a “fiscal cliff” of automatic spending cuts and tax hikes, which experts say could hurt the US economy and curb global growth.

The meeting is a follow-up to a June summit, when G20 leaders vowed to coordinate “fiscal actions” to boost domestic demand if economic conditions deteriorated.

Since then, the IMF slashed its 2012 global growth forecast to 3.3 percent, eurozone unemployment rose to a record 11.6 percent in September and growth decelerated in emerging nations.