Asked what policy issues world leaders should be focusing on, Mr Hockey pointed to an overwhelming focus on infrastructure, and the challenge of financing infrastructure, in both the developed and developing world.
“Governments around the world recognise that they have not got the fiscal capacity to be able to fund the massive infrastructure needs,” he said.
“In discussions with the World Bank and its new president we talked at length about potential funding models for infrastructure. Certainly, it is a focus of discussions of the IMF and I expect it will be in the IMF discussions over the next few days,” he said.
It will also be a focus for Australia at the G20 summit next year, which Mr Hockey said will be a very significant event, with high expectations on Australia as host.
Mr Hockey said the Coalition wants Australia to be “an infrastructure economy as a leader for the world” and predicted a strong appetite from G20 delegates to focus on how to fund infrastructure and how to facilitate infrastructure, particularly in developing countries.
Mr Hockey also said he looked forward to upcoming discussions with ratings agencies regarding government guarantees to fund infrastructure projects.
“They are important discussions but they are also going to focus on what we can do to ensure Australia maintains its AAA credit level but, at the same time, we need to be more ambitious in the way we fund infrastructure in Australia,” he said.
“Ultimately, we have to have a medium- to long-term infrastructure plan to stimulate economic growth, [and] to give job stability and certainty to address the challenge of rising unemployment. These are some of the things that we are addressing during this trip [to the US, including meetings with outgoing US Federal Reserve boss Ben Bernanke and IMF managing director Christine Lagarde.”
