German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday disagreed on how best to kick-start the global economy ahead of a G7 meeting this month.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday disagreed on how best to kick-start the global economy ahead of a G7 meeting this month.

While Abe made a characteristic pitch for large-scale stimulus spending, Merkel suggested Germany was already doing enough, pointing to the extra economic activity brought by the arrival of one million refugees and migrants last year.

The leaders of the major European and East Asian export powers will outline their competing visions when Japan later this month hosts a meeting of the G7 advanced industrial countries -- also including Britain, Canada, France, Italy and the United States.