LONDON -- The policy initiatives announced in the wake of the G7 finance ministers meeting over the weekend were short on specifics and thin on substance, and revealed that G7 nations were continuing their own approaches to economic and financial policy without a lot of policy coordination, according to a leading economist.

The principal new joint commitment from finance ministers announced by host British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne was a tougher line on tax avoidance, with G7 nations agreeing to coordinate policy.

Jonathan Portes, director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) in London, commented that the general plan to target tax avoidance was "a good thing but you need to keep the momentum up."

He added, "The devil is in the detail and it is not entirely clear what is actually going to happen. The tax avoidance plans could, potentially, be important in the medium to long term but this is just a step on the way."

However, the remaining announcements by the G7 ministers were broad on goals, but short on specifics and left plenty of room for individual nations to continue their own approaches to fiscal consolidation and creating economic growth and to pursue financial regulation reform.

The United States had come to the finance ministers meeting with a call from U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew that it felt "strongly there needs to be the right balance between austerity and growth."

However, no policy changes were made to the fiscal austerity in some eurozone countries, and French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici talked of a change of tone among finance ministers when talking about austerity.

Portes commented, "The tone has changed... because they have given up banging on about fiscal consolidation, because it is obvious it is not a sensible thing to do, and it is not a sensible thing to do in terms of policy."

He added, "It does not mean they have taken any positive decision to do anything new to boost growth. In the current circumstances there is not a lot of policy coordination going on. Countries are doing their own thing."

He added, "On exchange rates they have decided not to say anything specific, and it is not obvious what this is achieving in terms of macro-economic policy coordination. They have stopped saying some of the rather silly things they were saying a couple of years ago on fiscal policy, which is an improvement."

Portes said the Japanese are "taking bold and aggressive action to get them out of their slump, which I think is a good thing," while the United States was "hamstrung by its own domestic politics," despite which its economy was still doing better than some other countries, he said.

He added, "In terms of the eurozone, the G7 has no influence, and it continues to muddle along in the same way."

G7 nations have not, this time round, taken up the opportunity to act in a highly coordinated fashion, simply because there is no overwhelming incentive to do so.

Portes said the United States wanted the eurozone to change course because its continued problems are a drag on the global economy.

"The U.S. would like the Europeans to follow more sensible policies, to run a more expansionary fiscal policy and probably a more expansionary monetary policy as well. Things aren't so bad they can force the Europeans to do anything. For the Europeans it is all about the eurozone," he said.

The G7 nations are Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, Italy, and the United States. Britain is currently the head of the G7 nations, a rotating post, and Prime Minister David Cameron will be hosting G8 leaders (G7 plus Russia) for a summit in Northern Ireland next month.