G8 on Oil- July 2008 meet in Osaka, Japan

As usual nothing great from these G8 meetings.

-The Finance ministers urged the oil producing nations to increase output to control the rising oil and food prices. They expect the higher prices to hurt global growth (thanks for the info).

-Higher prices will increase inflationary pressures

-Some of the ministers point to speculators causing the rise

-Henry Paulson, US Treasury secretary, mentioned "We don't want to misdiagnose the problem. And if you look at the problem, I think it's pretty clear. We have not had an increase in production capacity in oil for the last 10 years."

-US dollar's weakness is considered a major factor that is affecting the price of oil.

-They asked emerging countries to reduce subsidies for oil. Countries like India, Indonesia have recently reduced oil subsidies.

- India and couple of other counties are facing elections soon but they were commended for removing some subsidies but there are several other counties that are not ready to budge as they would like to continue to keep low prices for their vast populations.

-"The world economy continues to face uncertainty and downside risks persist," their statement said. "We will remain vigilant and will continue to take appropriate actions, individually and collectively, in order to secure stability and growth in our economies and globally."