An amount in the billions from Germany for Ukraine, an exchange on the global rise in inflation and a debate going on in the background as to whether tariffs on Russian oil are more efficient than a tough embargo by the Europeans: At the meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors from the group of seven Western countries Industrialized countries (G 7) made a concrete announcement from the host on the first day.

The federal government will contribute 1 billion euros so that the government in Kyiv remains liquid, said Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) on Thursday at Petersberg.

His commitment was timed to coincide with the meeting of the Bundestag budget committee, which had to clarify the final details for the 2022 budget by early Friday morning.

Manfred Schaefers

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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The German gift should be a signal to the still hesitant participants to get involved generously so that the necessary sum can be raised.

The goal of the group of seven is 15 billion euros to cover the needs of the Ukrainians for three months.

America promised half of it early on.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal was brought in to once again remind everyone in the room of the urgency of the support.

However, it was not yet foreseeable whether Lindner would be able to announce the good news on Friday at the end of the G-7 meeting that he had collected the entire amount.

A certain gap will probably remain, which Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) would then have to close at the G-7 summit in Elmau at the end of June.

At the start of the meeting in the Siebengebirge, Lindner pointed out that both days were also about securing financial stability despite the very high inflation.

The program started with an exchange on inflation with the economists Kristin Forbes (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Ricardo Reis (London School of Economics).

It was about the possibility of having a dampening effect on this with financial and monetary policy.

This exchange with the ministers and central bank governors took place behind closed doors.

But since the possibility of curbing accelerated inflation with financial policy is limited, the exchange with the scientists can be seen as a delicate attempt to make monetary policy (of course, carefully respecting its independence) aware of its responsibility.

"The G7 are aware that inflation is currently one of the greatest economic risks," said Lindner after the meeting.

Joint efforts are needed to combat them.

The aim must be to get inflation back to around 2 percent in the short term.

The increased prices, not least at gas stations, are also a concern for America's Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

In Europe, she explored the possibility of quickly imposing tariffs on Russian oil instead of relying on a hard embargo.

The hope is that this will also affect Russia, but will have less of an impact on gasoline prices in the United States.

With a view to the EU's efforts to end imports of Russian oil by the end of the year, the politician said shortly before the meeting with her colleagues on the Rhine: You need time to do it properly so that there are no price jumps.

We are prepared to bear the consequences of sanctions, but they should have the greatest impact in Russia.