FINANCE ministers from the world’s largest developed economies meet in Germany this week against a backdrop of faltering global growth, scant inflationary pressures and a bond market in turmoil.

    High on their agenda — even if unofficially — will be Greece and how it can stay in the troubled eurozone. Figures due Friday from the United States that will almost certainly show the world’s biggest economy contracted last quarter are also likely to feature.

    “With the negotiations between Greece and the rest of the euro area at an impasse, an impatient German Chancellor Merkel has warned that an agreement must be reached before the end of the month,” said Thomas Costerg, senior economist at Standard Chartered.

    Analysts largely agree that the country’s cash squeeze is increasingly acute and fresh aid will be needed sooner or later to avoid bankruptcy.

    With business growth slowing in the eurozone and factory activity contracting again in China, market watchers have been looking to the United States to drive a pick-up in growth.

    But a preliminary Reuters poll last week predicted that adjusted first quarter U.S. GDP numbers due Friday would be massively revised down and show a 0.7 percent contraction in the first three months of this year.

    “The poor performance in the first quarter of the year follows growth of just 2.2 percent in the previous quarter, so there has been very little growth over the last couple of quarters,” said Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank.

    Revised gross domestic product numbers from Britain on Thursday should say the country’s growth at the start of the year was slightly better than first estimated, at 0.4 percent.

    India will also publish GDP numbers on Friday, with economists predicting Asia’s third largest economy expanded a relatively modest 7.4 percent between January and March.

    Economic activity in Brazil tumbled in the first quarter, its central bank’s IBC-Br index suggested Thursday, and GDP numbers Friday are likely to confirm that contraction.

    Japan’s central bank has been struggling to get any meaningful inflation for decades and despite near-zero rates and many multi-trillion yen stimulus programs, numbers due Thursday will show little inflationary pressure.

    With inflation negative in Hungary, its central bank is expected to cut rates by a further 15 basis points to a new historic low of 1.65 percent Tuesday. (SD-Agencies)