WASHINGTON: Finance leaders from the Group of 20 nations have reaffirmed a pledge that advanced countries will develop fiscal strategies by September to ensure the sustainability of their budgets.

“Fiscal sustainability in advanced economies remains essential,” G20 finance ministers and central bank leaders said in a joint statement following talks in Washington.

“Advanced economies will develop medium-term fiscal strategies by the time of the St. Petersburg summit” scheduled for September, the statement said, echoing language used following the previous meeting of G20 ministers in February.

Finance Minster Ibrahim Al-Assaf is leading the Saudi delegation at the G20 and IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington.

Fahd Al-Mubarak, governor of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, and Yusuf Al-Bassam, vice president and CEO of the Saudi Development Fund, are also accompanying Al-Assaf.

Among the topics finance officials from the G20 were debating was whether or not numerical targets should be set for debt reduction.

The US and Japan have opposed committing to any targeted level of public debt, but Russia — this year’s G20 chair — has hoped to secure an agreement on targets by the time G20 leaders meet in St. Petersburg in September.