All You Need to Know About the G8

With the crisis in the Ukraine prompting talk of Russia being ejected from the G8, the organisation is at the forefront of financial headlines all over the world. At the Academy of Financial Trading we reckon that you need to know about the G8. So what is it and why do you need to know about it for financial trading?

The G8 is an international group consisting of the representatives from the eight most developed nations in the world. These nations are Canada, France, the US, the UK, Italy, Japan, Germany and Russia. The European Union (EU) also holds representation within the G8, but it cannot host or chair summits.

The Group, which literally stands for ‘Group of 8,’ acts as a forum for the discussion of a variety of topics for ministers from the eight most developed nations on the planet. This is why ministers of varying portfolios from the G8 hold meetings on their specific interest each year; G8 foreign ministers, G8 environment ministers etc.

Since economics plays a crucial role in the maintenance of global stability, it should be no surprise to you that one of these yearly meetings is the meeting of the G8 finance ministers. Considering that this is a meeting of the eight largest industrial nations in the world, to discuss financial issues, you need to know about it if you hope to be effective in financial trading.

Collectively the G8 nations held 50.1% of global GDP in 202. This means that together they are responsible for half the world’s wealth. Any meeting between them would theoretically affect half of the world’s wealth.

This is because the annual summit isn't just a discussion of ideas, it’s an active meeting where serious financial issues are