FT.com / Video & Audio / Interactive graphics - G20 Wishlist
this link goes to a useful graphic that enables you to see the basic positions outlined by each of the players at the G20 going in to the meeting over the weekend.
the outcome was not exactly unanimous: it appears that the germans in particular balked at the american proposal to expand/rework the imf, preferring to maintain a nation-state orientation at the level of policy initiatives and a lower level of committment of resources that geithner (for example) had been asking for.
at the same time, there were statements about the need for co-ordinated action and indications that there might in fact be co-ordinated action.
but in the main, it seems to me that the G-20 was a missed opportunity for the main capitalist powers to do something that'd enable them to get ahead of the situation and shape it, rather than staying in a more reactive posture.
which means that the central problems were punted.
Quote:
G20 twin-track strategy seeks to avoid splits
By Chris Giles in Horsham
Published: March 15 2009 15:48 | Last updated: March 16 2009 08:54
The Group of 20 advanced and emerging countries ceased hostilities at the weekend over fiscal stimulus and regulatory policies in an attempt to appear united at a summit next month.
The move followed a week of US pressure on Europe to introduce bigger discretionary tax cuts and public spending increases and irritation at perceived bullying.
Ministers and officials stressed areas of co-operation before the summit in London on April 2. The G20 process is now on a twin-track of immediate economic stimulus and financial system repair, alongside medium-term ideas for tougher financial regulation, officials argued.
Seeking common ground, the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors, meeting in Horsham, southern England, pledged to “take whatever action is necessary until growth is restored”.
Their communiqué said they would ensure that “all systemically important financial institutions, markets and instruments are subject to an appropriate degree of regulation and oversight”.
But the meeting was short on substantive agreements and the ministers continued to acknowledge different priorities as the most important next steps in the reaction to the financial and economic crisis.
Tim Geithner, US Treasury secretary, dropped a US call for countries to implement a fiscal stimulus equivalent to 2 per cent of national income in 2009 and 2010. But he stressed that with “all the major economies . . . putting in place substantial fiscal packages”, the “stronger the response, the quicker recovery will come”.
The communiqué contained a commitment “to deliver the scale of sustained [fiscal stimulus] effort necessary to restore growth” and called on the International Monetary Fund “to assess the actions taken and the actions required”.
But Alistair Darling, the UK chancellor, conceded that the IMF already plays that role on the global stage. He was unable to say, however, whether the G20 communiqué would alter his thinking over Britain’s planned fiscal tightening in 2010.
In a further sign that few concrete decisions had been taken, Christine Lagarde, French finance minister, said: “I don’t think we should ever consider that April 2 is the end of the road. It is the step on the road for which we are delivering the platform”. France wants to host a G20 summit, European diplomats said yesterday.
French officials on Sunday said communiqué language on requiring hedge funds to “disclose appropriate information to assess the risks they pose” was en-couraging, as was a commitment to make financial regulation damp rather than amplify economy cycles in future.
Peer Steinbrück, Germany’s finance minister, said “remarkable progress” had been made in the fight against tax evasion in tax havens and the regulation of hedge funds. But he sounded a defiant note on fiscal stimulus, saying: “We are convinced it makes no sense to pump more and more money in our economy when we haven’t restored the confidence on the financial markets”.
Finance ministers from emerging economies were pleased with the commitment substantially to increase the resources of the International Monetary Fund and to allow citizens from outside the US and Europe to head the fund and the World Bank in future.
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