What Can A Bunch Of Politicians Do To Help Growth.

Global investors were waiting for IMF and G20 meetings in Washington for signs from financial leaders on the next stages of their efforts to drag most of the developed world out of a debilitating cycle of debt and very low inflation.

Reuters printed that the head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde had reiterated on Thursday the euro zone needed to write off some of Athens’ debt and rework plans to get the country back on track. “We will not walk away,” Lagarde said during a question-and-answer session. “Our form of participation may vary depending on the commitments of Greece and the undertaking of the European partners, but we will not walk away.”

Speculation was also still circling about whether top oil producers led by Saudi Arabia and Russia will be able to hammer a deal in Doha, Qatar on Sunday to curb output which is currently churning out around 2 million barrels of excess oil a day.

The three-day event comes at a time when threats to global economic growth — such as the slowdown in China and emerging economies and the looming specter of the U.K.’s departure from the European Union — have come into sharp focus says the International Business Times.

“In the global economy, there are not many bright spots around the world — the United States is one among the developed economies and India is another among the middle-income countries,” World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said during a press conference Thursday. “Growth remains weak in Europe and Japan, and among emerging economies, Russia and Brazil are projected to post negative growth once again. We have just downgraded our global growth economic forecast this year to 2.5 percent from 2.9 percent.”

“The weakening global economy threatens our progress toward ending extreme poverty by 2030,” he added.

The IMF, on its part, has also been bearish on the global economy. Earlier this week, the lender, citing a “disappointing” pace of growth across the world, slashed its 2016 growth forecast by 0.2 percentage points, to 3.2 percent from an earlier 3.4 percent.

Two major factors that have further complicated global growth outlook, and that are likely be discussed during the meeting, are the prospect of the so-called Brexit, which the IMF has repeatedly said could inflict “severe regional and global damage,” and the recent Panama Papers revelations that shed light on the rampant use of offshore tax havens by corporations.

The IMF opened the week by cutting its forecast for world economic growth for the third time in six months, saying growth has been “too slow for too long.”

It said intensifying financial and political risks around the world, from volatile financial markets to the Syria conflict to global warming, had left the economy “increasingly fragile.”

And the World Bank said Monday that its lending to needy countries surged last year “to levels never seen outside a financial crisis.”

In meetings with the 189 country members of both institutions, and in parallel meetings of the G20 leading economies, the message will be that each country needs to try harder to reverse the downturn.

The question remains, what can this prestigious group of people actually do beside issuing statements and making headlines.