Yellen calls on APEC finance ministers to boost growth potential sustainably

investing.com:

By David Lawder

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called on Pacific Rim finance ministers on Monday to boost the productive capacity of their economies while working to finance the transition to low-carbon energy and provide more opportunities for the poor.

Opening a meeting of finance ministers of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation countries, Yellen said the group's economic dynamism meant the actions they take matter for addressing global challenges.

Yellen said in prepared remarks that the 21 APEC economies needed to collaborate to meet goals for the 2023 U.S. hosting year of creating an «open, dynamic, resilient, and peaceful Asia-Pacific community.»

A day after the APEC Secretariat issued new forecasts for slowing growth next year citing the inflation fight and U.S.-China tensions, Yellen said the group needed to increase potential output.

«We need to further improve our long-term economic outlook by boosting labor supply, innovation, and infrastructure investment, in ways that are also sustainable and reduce inequality,» Yellen said.

«We need to put ourselves on a sustainable growth path, one where we safeguard our planet while providing our economies with the clean energy they need to grow. And we need to leverage emerging technologies to drive innovation while maintaining safe financial markets,» Yellen added.

Treasury released a research paper saying expenditures to reduce carbon emissions now would reduce costlier damages from more frequent and powerful storms, floods and forest fires.

It cited research estimating that spending $50 billion per year to build higher bridges and move transportation routes inland for 136 coastal cities around the world would reduce expected annual