Finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized countries have called for lower oil prices at their meeting in New York.

In a statement Sunday, the finance ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United States said that low oil prices would benefit the entire world economy.

The statement also welcomed the announcement by some oil producers to raise production targets and called on all oil producing nations to take action to ensure that international oil prices return to a level consistent with lasting global economic prosperity and stability.

Earlier on Friday, Saudi Arabia said that it would stick to its proposal for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase oil production by more than two million barrels per day, despite the failure of other members of the cartel to give the proposal their immediate backing. Some OPEC members are contending that unrest in Iraq - not production levels - is the main cause of the high cost of crude oil.

Faced with pressure from the G7, OPEC ministers, who met in an informal meeting in Amsterdam over the weekend, have deferred a decision on the Saudi Arabian proposal until the cartel officially gathers in Beirut on June 3.

Amid growing violence in the Middle East, global oil prices have hit record levels above 41 dollars a barrel.