In Washington, the finance ministers of the G20 gave their approval to the work of the OECD on the taxation of Gafa. They also agreed on a very strict framework for digital currencies. G20 finance ministers have their work cut out for them. Meeting in Washington on Friday and Saturday, on the sidelines of the fall meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, they gave priority to the taxation of Gafa. As expected, they gave their approval to the plan submitted to them by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to partially overhaul the international tax architecture and tax the Gafa and largely digitized multinationals. The objective is to reach a political agreement by June 2020. This is “the starting point for a new stage. The idea is that we adopt an agreement on the elements of this proposal in the middle of next year and that we devote the rest of the year to its implementation", confirmed the Secretary General of the OECD, Angel Gurria. A legal framework for digital currencies The second subject that will have monopolized the attention of major fundraisers relates to cryptocurrencies, such as Libra, which are developing steadily. The ministers recommend assessing the risks posed by these stable digital currencies, i.e. those backed by a basket of currencies such as the euro or the dollar, and "remediating" them before they be launched. In this they followed the recommendations of the final report on the question by Benoît Coeuré which was submitted to them. A legal framework is needed to provide maximum security for potential users of these new payment instruments. Japan's G20 Presidency has also asked the IMF to consider the macroeconomic implications for member countries. The multilateral institution wants to be prudent. "There could be abuse for illegal purposes and, in the worst case, for the financing of terrorism", indicated Kristalina Georgieva, the new managing director of the Fund, on Saturday, underlining "the inevitability" of these digital currencies. . For the time being, the libra that Facebook plans to launch is struggling. In addition to the recent disaffection of several major partners, Paypal, Visa, Mastercard in particular, Europeans are mobilizing to oppose it. France, Italy and Germany are together preparing a series of measures to ban its use in Europe, revealed the French Minister of Finance, Bruno Le Maire. "We will take in the coming weeks, in particular with Olaf Scholz and Roberto Gualtieri, my German and Italian counterparts, a certain number of initiatives to make it clear that Libra is not welcome in Europe, because it is our sovereignty. who is at stake,” he told a news conference. “We will not accept that a private multinational company has […] the same monetary power as sovereign states which are subject to democratic control; because the big difference between Facebook and the States is that we are subject to democratic control, that is to say to the control of the people, ”he said. Olaf Scholz followed suit: “I am in favor of not allowing the establishment of such a global currency, because that is the task of democratic states. »

While some progress can be noted on these two subjects, that of global growth will have to wait. Despite the IMF's warnings about the general slowdown in the economy and its call to put an end to the current trade conflicts, the ministers could only note their disagreement. The United States has also confirmed the increase in customs duties on 7.5 billion dollars of European products imported since last Friday. A measure which will be followed, in due course, by European retaliation, the European Commission has indicated.