G-20 Warns of Risk to Global Recovery From Virus Variants

VENICE, ITALY - The global economic recovery is at risk from the rise of new coronavirus variants and poor access to vaccines in developing countries, finance ministers of the world's 20 largest economies warned on Saturday.

The G-20 gathering in the Italian city of Venice—the ministers' first face-to-face talks since the start of the pandemic—also endorsed a move to stop multinational firms from shifting profits to low-tax havens. That paves the way for G20 leaders to finalize a new global minimum corporate tax rate of 15% at a Rome summit in October, a move that could recoup hundreds of billions of dollars for public treasuries straining under the COVID-19 crisis. A final communique said the global economic outlook had improved since G-20 talks in April thanks to the rollout of vaccines and economic support packages, but acknowledged its fragility in the face of variants like the fast-spreading delta.