U.S. to urge G20 to boost economies, heed citizen anger

U.S. President Barack Obama will urge leaders of the world's major economies to use fiscal policy and other tools to boost growth while paying more attention to angry citizens who feel left behind, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said on Wednesday.
The United States will also call for the Group of 20 leading economies to keep their steel industries from getting so big that factories are underused, Lew said in a preview of the U.S. message to the Sept. 4-5 G20 summit in Hangzhou, China.

Lew's comments suggest Washington could press Beijing at the summit on excess capacity in China's giant state-backed steel industry. The remarks also point to the rising awareness among leaders of advanced economies that support for global trade and financial integration cannot be taken as a given.
"There are very real concerns about globalization and technology, but the answer cannot be to close ourselves off," Lew said in prepared remarks at the Brookings Institution.
In the campaign ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November, both major candidates have expressed skepticism over free trade pacts both new and old. Britain voted in June to leave the European Union, another sign of discontent with globalization.
The G20 needs to find ways to boost the living standards of poor and middle-class families, Lew said, saying Obama will press G20 leaders to make banking services universally available.
America has been pressing other G20 governments to spend more when possible to boost the global economy, which has cooled as weaker growth in China reduced demand for commodities like copper and iron. Europe and Japan have also been growing at lackluster rates.
Obama will also urge more countries to launch reviews of fuel subsidy programs, part of a commitment at the G20 to phase out inefficient programs supporting fuel purchases, Lew said.
Nigeria’s Dangote Cement said on Wednesday it has jacked up price of its commodity to mitigate the effect of rising cost of production, a statement from the company said.
It said it has increased the ex factory price of its product by 600 naira, slight higher than the price before last year September price slashed.
The company said the disruption of gas supply which was its preferred fuel has deteriorated in the third quarter of the year, while the use of alternative fuels such as LPFO and coal have led to a substantial cost increase.
“In addition, the naira has experienced a significant devaluation against the dollar over the past few weeks. Both of these external factors have combined to increase our costs substantially in our largest market.
Dangote cement has assured that it was working on its coal mine initiative in Nigeria and expect to begin mining process by November in its drive toward self-sufficiency and eliminate dependence on gas supplies and imported coal.
“Own-mined coal wil be cheaper than gas, which is priced in dollar but paid in naira… this will reduce our need for foreign currency at this difficult time for the Nigerian economy,” the company said.
It said it hope to open new plants soon in Congo and Sierra Leone to further strengthen the company profitability ad generate additional foreign exchange earnings.

(C) Reuters news