G-20 finance ministers preparing for risks, downturn: Heng

Buenos Aires

FINANCE ministers from the world's 20 largest economies were concerned about the state of financial markets this year, and some of their work at the Group of 20 (G-20) summit over the weekend focused on preparing for the eventuality of a downturn, said Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat.

"We have had a prolonged period of economic upturn. The question is, when is the downturn coming? And how do we prepare for that?" said Mr Heng in an interview with Singapore media on Saturday after the Argentina summit, which he attended. Singapore was invited as a representative of Asean this year.