U.S. fiscal cliff, Europe's debt woes worry G20

reuters.com - November 4th, 2012 - Krista Hughes and Julien Toyer

Finance chiefs of leading economies pressed the United States on Sunday to avert a rush of spending cuts and tax hikes that could hurt global output next year, though some countries still saw Europe's debt crisis as the No. 1 danger.

Unless a fractious Congress can move quickly to reach a deal after Tuesday's U.S. elections, about $600 billion in government spending cuts and higher taxes are set to kick in from Jan. 1, threatening to push the American economy back into recession.
   
"They need to act swiftly on the fiscal cliff and then they will need to put in place a medium-term fiscal consolidation," Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan told Reuters before ministers from the Group of 20 countries gathered for talks.

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