LUXEMBOURG, April 12: EU finance ministers, eager to ease the pain of the euro’s strength, stepped up pressure on Tuesday on Asian countries to let their currencies appreciate ahead of an upcoming G7 meeting. Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, whose country currently holds the EU’s presidency, said EU finance ministers believed an “orderly” appreciation of Asian currencies was “absolutely necessary”.

Juncker said he would voice European concerns about exchange rates at a meeting in Washington on Friday and Saturday of finance ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) most industrialized countries.

Speaking at a press conference after meeting on Monday with eurozone finance ministers, he said they had agreed that he would “repeat verbatim” at the Washington gathering a message he gave in February in London at the last G7 summit.

“In other words, excessive volatility and concern about exchange rates because the current position remains contrary to the objective of robust economic growth,” he said.

“We also repeated that exchange rates will not cause undesirable economic imbalances. All important economies would be expected to redress global economic imbalances ... so that if appreciation has to take place, it will be orderly,” he said.

Juncker added: “Appreciation of some Asian currencies is more than highly desirable.”

Past calls for currency appreciation in Asia have fallen on deaf ears, leaving policymakers in the eurozone with the impression that their countries are bearing the brunt of the dollar’s weakness because many Asian currencies are either directly or indirectly pegged to the US currency.

That makes goods produced in the eurozone more expensive on global markets compared with products from the United States and Asian countries.

The strength of the euro and soaring oil prices, two factors largely out of the control of finance ministers, have been raising concerns in European capitals.

Juncker warned that the soaring oil prices were “beginning to weigh on the possibility of having firmer growth in Europe and the world”.—AFP