When world leaders gathered in April at the G20 Summit in London they delivered a lot. The BBC's headline ran "G20 leaders seal $1tn global deal". But a lot of what was agreed had to be put into action. With the follow-up Pittsburgh Summit looming in my calendar for the end of September, I've dug out the Leaders' Communiqué to check how the commitments they made are shaping up.
It looks pretty good.
First, the Financial Stability Board - an expanded version of the Financial Stability Forum - has been set up and held its first meeting on 26-27 June in Basel, Switzerland (pdf). That Board, plus action at the national level, is helping to reform financial regulation.
There has been more than $250bn in new bilateral funding for the IMF, and a $250bn allocation of Special Drawing Rights has been agreed in principle. And there is increased assistance for low income countries via the IMF and the multilateral development banks. Work is going ahead on establishing $500bn in New Arrangements to Borrow from the IMF. With the Administration's strong support, Congress recently approved the US's contribution.
In addition there has been $250bn in trade finance from the World Bank and Export Credit Agencies, including the establishment of a new Global Trade Liquidity Pool to help developing and emerging markets.
The challenge for Pittsburgh will be to maintain the momentum. With the global economy now apparently emerging from the worst of the financial crisis, there is a risk that we forget about the need to learn the necessary lessons. And even if the recession is ending, sustained recovery is still not assured. The UK will be looking to talk to our international partners at Pittsburgh about the actions still required to support balanced global economic growth for the future.
Posted at 14:02 13 August 2009 by Tom Barry | Comments[0]
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