On Wednesday, White House Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby announced that the G7 finance ministers would discuss the possibility of a price cap on Russian oil to cut the country's rising energy revenues during a meeting later this week.
"The primary reason I’m here, in the US, is we want to get this oil price cap over the line. We have an important meeting tomorrow with the G7 finance ministers and I’m hopeful, we’ll be able to have a statement that will mean that we can move forward at pace to deliver this oil price cap," Zahawi said during a Q&A session on British economy organized by the American Enterprise Institute.
Zahawi arrived in the US on Wednesday to meet with US bankers, officials and G7 finance ministers to discuss solutions for the ongoing energy and cost of living crises.
Earlier in the day, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak slammed a possible price cap on Russian oil as absurd, warning that Moscow would not deliver oil and oil products to countries that support the decision.
Over the past months, the sanctions imposed by the West on Russia in retaliation for its military operation in Ukraine sent food and energy prices soaring, triggering record-high inflation in some countries. In the United Kingdom, rising costs of living hit millions of households.
Last week, the UK energy regulator Ofgem announced an 80% increase in the energy price cap to 3,549 pounds ($4,194) per year starting October 1 due to rising global energy prices. Since its last revision in April, the energy price cap has stood at 1,971 pounds ($2,315). Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley warned that energy prices are likely to continue to rise, and called on the country's future prime minister to take new measures to tackle the problem.