The meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the seven leading industrialised nations in Washington this weekend comes amid signs of severe strains in global currency markets. The question is whether they will do anything about it.

Ahead of the meeting, the Europeans are fretting over the impact of a strong euro on the region’s exporters, while the dollar’s slide is making a mockery of the US Treasury’s mantra that a strong currency is in the country’s interests. In Tokyo, the yen’s slide rings alarm bells as investors show a new interest in carry trades, in which the low-yielding Japanese currency is sold to finance purchase of riskier assets elsewhere.