Essen, February 11:

Japan has emerged from the Group of Seven (G7) meeting without a public scolding, despite criticism beforehand that its weakened yen was hurting other economies, while China came under renewed pressure to make its yuan more flexible.

The finance ministers and central bankers from the world’s wealthiest nations also called for

more vigilance on the rising power of hedge funds, but favored a conciliatory approach that would reach out to the industry.

G-7 finance officials said the world’s major developed economies are showing solid growth, and added that energy efficiency and diversification — particularly renewable forms — remains a priority.

“Over the last two days, we discussed ways to keep the global economy growing in a balanced way, including stimulating domestic demand in Japan and Europe and pressing for greater exchange-rate flexibility in China,” US treasury secretary Henry Paulson said.

Ahead of the meeting, Japan had drawn criticism for its weakening yen, with some in the euro zone complaining it was giving the country a competitive edge. But in the G-7 communique, Japan was left out of the declaration on foreign currency issues, while its neighbor, China, was mentioned by name.

“In emerging economies with large and growing current account surpluses, especially China, it is desirable that their effective exchange rates move so that necessary adjustments will occur,” the ministers said.

China’s tight control of its currency and huge trade surpluses have raised concerns in the West. At its last meeting, the G-7 urged China to let the yuan have greater flexibility in responding to market movements. When the G-7 formed, comprising Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the US, China was an insular, closed communist state. In the three decades since, however, China’s growth has exploded as it embraces elements of capitalism.

China has amassed more than $1 trillion in foreign currency reserves as it buys dollars to control the value of the yuan — a practice G-7 finance ministers have criticised in the past.