WASHINGTON, Sept 28: Growth in the world’s richest economies has slowed, finance officials have agreed as they vowed to take whatever steps were needed to clean up corporate behavior and reinvigorate the recovery.

Economic growth in our countries is continuing, though at a more moderate pace than earlier this year, finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations said in a communique issued on Friday after a lengthy meeting here. We recognize that risks remain.

The statement said the G7 partners were committed to following sound economic policies and to improving corporate disclosure and accountability, an apparent bid to shore up shaky business and consumer confidence.

We are confident that these policies, accompanied by continued vigilance and cooperation, will strengthen growth in coming months, and thus support sustained expansion, the statement said.

Finance officials from the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan met on the fringes of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in a tightly secured government guest house across from the White House. The meeting site was ringed with steel barricades and guarded by lines of police.

A heavy police presence largely thwarted protester efforts to disrupt traffic in Washington and about 650 people demonstrating against the increasing globalization of business and a variety of other causes were arrested around the city during the day. More protests were expected over the weekend.

The one-page communique, scant on detail, reflected a more somber attitude about global prospects than after the ministers’ most recent meeting, in Halifax, Canada, last June. At that time, the ministers said growth was strengthening and should continue to consolidate throughout the year.

But a rash of corporate scandals, jitters about possible US war against Iraq and worry about rising oil prices has since made businesses and consumers wary and sent financial markets plunging.

The communique pointedly did not mention geopolitical risks although European sources suggested on Friday that deputy ministers — who traditionally meet before the formal ministers’ gathering and who typically draft a good portion of the post-meeting communique — had expressed concern about the impact a possible US attack on Iraq could have on oil prices and the confidence of businesses and consumers.

The country’s name didn’t come up, but everyone knew what country we were talking about when we said ‘geopolitical situation,’ a Japanese official said when asked about Iraq.

The communique did not single out any G7 country or regional policy, but European Central Bank President Win Duisenberg, speaking to reporters, said United States Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill had urged Europe and Japan to play their role in getting the world economy out of the doldrums. —Reuters