"The world is watching us," Sri Mulyani Indrawati, finance minister of host country Indonesia, said in the opening.

"The actions we take will have a very significant effect on all nations of the world."

The two-day meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors is being held on the Indonesian island of Bali, a week after foreign ministers sent a salvo of accusations over Ukraine's invasion of head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov.

Discussions were initially expected to focus on how best to encourage a return to growth after the coronavirus pandemic but it is the impact of the war in Ukraine, with the food and energy crises, which is now at the top of the agenda .

"We are very aware that the price of our failure to agree is higher than what we can afford," warned the Indonesian minister.

"The humanitarian consequences for many low-income countries would be catastrophic."

On the eve of the meeting, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen felt that "the biggest challenge" for the global economy came from the war in Ukraine, stressing that "the representatives of Putin's regime should have no place in this forum".

“We are seeing fallout from this war in all corners of the world, especially in energy prices and rising food insecurity,” she noted.

The talks are expected to reflect a fault line between Westerners who want to isolate Moscow economically and major developing countries opposed to sanctions on Russia, with China in a key position.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Silouanov is due to attend the meeting virtually, while his Ukrainian counterpart Sergei Marchenko has also been invited to speak via the internet.

Janet Yellen had participated in a boycott of the G20 meeting in April when Russian officials spoke in Washington.

The meeting ended without a final statement.

In the absence of a consensus between the countries on the causes of the current economic problems, and the responsibility of Russia, the publication of a press release is again uncertain.

"It's a G20 that engages in a very specific context," said a source from the French Ministry of Finance before the meeting.

"This context creates risks for poor and emerging countries, linked to the normalization of monetary policies and the risks of credit contraction".

- Many absent -

Indonesia, host country of the G20 this year, wanted to remain neutral and did not give in to Western pressure to keep Russia out of the meetings.

If the finance ministers of Italy, Canada, India or South Africa, in particular, have traveled, many countries have sent lower-level representatives.

France is represented by the Director General of the Treasury and by the Governor of the Banque de France.

European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde will participate remotely as well as Chinese and Brazilian ministers, while World Bank President David Malpass will be absent.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, who warned on Wednesday of a "darkening" global economic outlook, is expected to attend in person.

The major fundraisers must discuss solutions to alleviate the impact of inflation and the food and energy crises on the most fragile countries.

Financial inclusion and global tax reform should also be on the menu.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is due to present a progress report on global tax reform, with a minimum tax rate of at least 15% on the profits of multinationals.

Its implementation has been postponed to 2024, compared to mid-2023 initially planned.

© 2022 AFP