The Group of Seven ministers and central bank chiefs will meet Friday, before the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund hold their annual spring meeting over the weekend.

Reforms to make the IMF more representative of emerging players will also figure on the G7 agenda for Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.

And the ministers are expected the debate debt relief for the world's poorest countries, as the World Bank and IMF prepare to cancel the crushing debts under an initiative pushed by the G8 -- the G7 plus Russia.

"As one risk factor (for the global economy) is crude oil prices, which remain at high levels, I will closely watch how each G7 country discusses the issue," Japanese Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said Friday.

"Global currency developments and interest rates will remain high issues in the G7," added Tanigaki, when asked whether the Chinese yuan's limited flexibility would be a topic at the meeting.

He said Japan would also press for reform of the IMF, as Tokyo pushes for the world financial watchdog to give Asia's rising economies a greater say in its running.

US Treasury Secretary John Snow, writing in the Washington Times on Friday, underlined that his colleagues must, in addition, intensify efforts to choke off the finances of extremist groups.

Financial officials from all over the world recognise the horror of terrorism and are increasingly recognising the critical role that we can and must play in combating the international scourge," he said.

"Those who reach for their wallets to fund terrorism must be pursued with equal determination as those who reach for a bomb or a gun."