World's top policy-makers offer optimistic economic outlook

The IMF predicted that the world economy would grow 4.6 percent this year.
WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON -- Basking in a period of robust global growth and unusual calm in currency markets, top policy-makers from the world's biggest economies issued a cheery assessment of the international economic outlook Saturday and conveyed satisfaction with the general direction of their currencies.
In contrast with previous meetings during worldwide slowdowns and market turbulence, Saturday's gathering of the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank governors in Washington was so upbeat that even Japan, the target of criticism over much of the past decade, was praised.
"I was able to commend my Japanese colleagues on the good performance in Japan," U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said after the meeting.
The G-7 statement on the global economy, issued after a morning meeting that Snow hosted, said: "Prospects are favorable, and although risks remain, such as energy prices, overall the balance of risks to the outlook has improved" since the G-7's previous meeting in February.
Positive outlook by IMF
That view echoed the International Monetary Fund's forecast on Wednesday that the world economy would grow 4.6 percent this year, well above the annual average of the past two decades.
In its comments on currencies, which are minutely parsed by traders in foreign-exchange markets, the G-7 used wording identical to the statement issued in February, describing "excess volatility" as "undesirable."