See also trade
| Search site | ||
| Glossary | ||
| About DI | ||
| Contact DI | ||
| Reality of Aid | ||
| Chronic Poverty Research Centre | ||
| Finance & Development | ||
 |
||
WTO
meets in Seattle
The World
Trade Organisation Ministerial Conference in Seattle at the end of Nov
'99 marks the opening of a new round of trade talks and provides a focus
for governments, NGOs and business. Following the halting of the MAI process,
estimates suggest NGO lobbyists could outnumber official delegates to
the WTO by 10 to 1.
The OECD has produced several reports in advance of Seattle - one of which is Multilateral Trade Liberalisation and non-OECD Countries, available at www.oecd.org/ech/seattle/liberalisation.htm This report argues that increased market access through greater liberalisation promises big returns for non-OECD countries by 2010, regardless of their stage of development. Simulations show countries of Sub-Saharan Africa having their GDP improved by 3.7% - implying annual gains of $11 billion, an amount almost equivalent to aid to Africa in 1997. According to the OECD, developing countries have a proportionately larger stake in a healthy growing world economy than do industrial countries. The OECD report acknowledges the special problems facing many Least Developed Countries (LDCs), which impede their efforts to develop human and economic capital. The report notes that the 1996 Singapore WTO meeting took some steps to address the particular needs of LDC's - but also argues that increasingly heterogeneous LDC's need more carefully tailored special and differential treatment. DIU2 Nov 99
See Trade & Seattle on UNCTAD 10 and various briefings on trade issues before and after Seattle.
Perspectives
on the Financial Crisis and Poverty
....from
Canada
If Its Broke, Fix It
was the message from Roy Culpepper, President of Canada's North South
Institute in a Dec 98 address looking at the human impact of economic
crises in Asia, Mexico and Russia (see NSI homepage www.nsi-ins.ca ).
Culpepper argues that the pendulum may have started to swing from free
markets and investor rights to restrictions on markets in the interests
of people and societies. In Sept 98, NSI hosted a major seminar on Recovery
from Financial Crisis: Macroeconomic Policies for Socially Equitable Growth,
96 page report, $15 from Renouf Publishing email order.dept@renoufbooks.com
fax + 613 745 7660.
OECD
on Global Capital Flows
After the Great Asian
Slump: Towards a Coherent Approach to Global Capital Flows by Helmut Reisen
is a policy brief from the OECD Development Centre, Paris. Reisen notes
the unprecedented withdrawal of foreign capital from Asia - more than
10% of crisis country GDP. The brief argues that whilst the benefits of
globalisation have at times been oversold, reversing globalisation would
harm industrial and developing countries alike. But given the extreme
economic costs of financial crises, the brief evaluates several options
for both crisis management and prevention. Fax + 331 4524 7943.
Oxfam
on Finance & Poverty
A range of NGO publications
have analysed and commented on the impact on poor people of financial
crises in Asia and Latin America. An Oxfam International Briefing (Oct
98) notes that by the end of 1998, 100 million Indonesians will be living
in poverty - a fourfold increase on 1996. In the Phillipines, Oxfam quotes
estimates based on Dept of Health data that deaths from malaria will increase
by up to 30,000 as a direct consequence of reductions in the preventive
health budget and withdrawal of vitamin supplement programmes for children.
Oxfam's paper catalogues the human cost of the financial crisis and argues
for an independent review of IMF interventions and for the development
of 'recovery oriented' responses to financial crises and investment in
crisis prevention. Tel Veena Siddharth, Oxfam on + 1 202 393 5333.
Swiss
Coalition on the IMF
Writing for the Swiss
NGO Coalition newsletter 17 (Sep 98), Richard Gerster notes that Africa's
50 countries have only 7.4% of IMF votes. He calls for reform of the voting
system, for the IMF to have an evaluation system similar to that of the
World Bank and for the principle of sustainable development to be incorporated
into the IMF's mandate. Fax Bruno Gurtner + 41 31 381 1718 email mail@swisscoalition.ch
World
Vision
World Vision also use
their programme experience to illustrate the human impact of economic
collapse in a discussion paper 'Who Will Bail Out The Poor?' Steve Commins
and Alan Whaites argue that safeguarding the situation of the poor should
be seen as an integral part of the successful management of economic growth.
Fax WVUK + 44 (0) 1908 841001.
UNCTAD
UNCTAD's Nov 98 1998 Trade
& Development report critiques the deflationary effects of the international
response to financial instability. The report notes the injustice of global
market failure and bail outs for creditors being paid for at the expense of
the living standards of poor people. Email yilmaz.akyuz@unctad.org
fax + 41 22 907 0048.
Ethical
Trading
Taking Stock: How the supermarkets
stack up on ethical trading is a 68 page update from Christian Aid on progress
UK supermarkets are making in response to the Ethical
Trading Initiative, launched in Jan 98. Website www.christian-aid.org.uk
PO Box 100, London SE1 7RT.
Finance
Research
Three propositions
underpin the new DFID funded Finance & Development Research Programme.
Poverty reduction in Sub Saharan Africa & South Asia requires a marked
acceleration in economic growth, which depends on higher savings &
investment. The financial sector must help mobilise savings and their
allocation to the investors capable of generating highest returns. Institutional
features of the financial system are crucial to efficient financial markets
and distributional impact.
Accelerated growth is not enough. Poverty reduction requires patterns of growth & institutional structures which favour rural development, enhanced incomes and productivity in agriculture - especially small scale farming - and the growth of labour intensive small and medium scale enterprises. The F&D research will explore optimal financial services for pro poor growth and appropriate institutional structures.
Regulatory regimes are crucial. The design of regulation, internal incentives and governance, external monitoring and supervision, is therefore a key instrument for financial development
The basic question for the research, involving Universities of Reading, Bath, Loughborough, Manchester, Warwick, Birmingham and Oxford, is what financial sector policies will help to promote poverty reducing growth in low-income countries?
Email findev@devinit.demon.co.uk or fax Colin Kirkpatrick + 44 (0) 161 273 8829.
DI
Update Contents | Search | Contact
Finance & Development | Reality
of Aid | Home Page
