Money Summit

The informal meetings of finance ministers from the so-called Group of Five--the U.S., Britain, West Germany, France and Japan--have generally been hush-hush affairs. Rarely is the site or even the date of the gatherings revealed. But growing concern about the stability of global finance cast an unusual spotlight on last week's summit at a remote Tudor-style castle in Kronberg, West Germany.

Earlier in the week U.S. Treasury Secretary Donald Regan had drawn attention to the meeting by telling reporters in Washington that he intended to push for greater international cooperation to shore up the shaky monetary system. He complained that the major nations had responded to the alarming debt problems of such countries as Poland, Mexico and Brazil in a haphazard manner, lurching from one crisis to the next. "We have to have some better way of operating," said Regan. He also contended that there should be greater "viscosity," or smoother fluctuations, in exchange rates between major currencies. In recent years, sharp swings in currency values have often disrupted world trade patterns.

Surprised European leaders saw Regan's remarks as a possible indication of a significant shift in American thinking. Until now, the U.S. Administration had emphasized that, as much as possible, governments should maintain a hands-off stance toward international finance. Said a top West German official: "We welcome the change from what has so far been an inward-looking U.S. policy to an outward-looking one."

In Kronberg, the Group of Five ministers accepted Regan's general proposition that potential reforms of the monetary system should be studied, but they focused their attention on more immediate steps to calm jittery financial markets. In particular, the ministers agreed that the major industrial nations should greatly increase their contributions to the International Monetary Fund, which makes loans to countries having balance of payments difficulties. Until more fundamental solutions can be found for the mounting debt distress of developing nations, increased IMF lending will apparently have to serve as a stopgap.

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