OTTAWA -- Finance ministers and central bankers from the world's biggest economies are meeting again later this week to confront the now-familiar dual problems of slow economic growth and high unemployment, as well as a new one of growing financial market volatility.

The meeting in Moscow starting Friday, which will for the first time be preceded by a session involving labour ministers, will set the agenda for a full leaders' summit of the G20 nations in September.

Speaking at a background briefing in Ottawa, a finance official described the global situation as worrying, noting that G20 policy-makers saw weaker than expected economic growth in the first half of 2013.

A recent new forecast by the International Monetary Fund shaved global growth to three per cent this year -- 0.2 percentage points lower than the previous projection in April -- although Canada saw an similar-sized upgrade to 1.7 per cent.

The new problem confronting the global outlook is increased volatility arising out of talk in the United States that the Federal Reserve is thinking of a "tapered" exit from quantitative easing -- a unconventional form of stimulus that involves expanding the money supply -- starting in 2014.

The talk has triggered a sell-off in equity markets, while increasing treasury bond yields and currency volatility in emerging markets.

The Fed has since taken steps to soothe markets somewhat by noting it would also only ease back on the accelerator if the economy improved.

The Canadian official said "tapering" would definitely be on the agenda at the meetings, although he would not prejudge whether any recommendations will flow from the discussions.

Also expected front and centre at the talks is slowing economic growth in China and other emerging markets, which is affecting Canada directly through dampened commodity prices.

The meeting will be the first attended by Canada's new central bank governor, Stephen Poloz, although officials said newly appointed Labour Minister Kellie Leitch -- named to the portfolio Monday -- will not make the trip.

Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty briefed his provincial and territorial counterparts by "telepresence" -- a state-of-the-art type of video conferencing -- on the situation.

The minister was not available to media afterwards, but issued a statement saying he will take what he heard from his counterparts to the G20 meeting.

The release said the "telepresence meeting" was the first federal-provincial finance meeting using the technology, which is billed as a way to save travel and accommodation costs.