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UK lags behind as global economy emerges from recession
Heather Stewart, The Guardian
Britain will be the only economy in the G7 that has yet to pull out of recession by the end of this year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) forecast today.
The gloomy prediction from the Paris-based thinktank will embarrass the chancellor, Alistair Darling, as he prepares to meet his fellow G20 finance ministers in London tomorrow. He and Gordon Brown have been keen to paint the UK as the leader of the fightback against global recession, but the OECD believes that while the world economy is starting to emerge from the deepest slump since the second world war, the UK is lagging behind.
The crisis-hit UK economy is still contracting, and will record zero growth in the final quarter of this year, according to the OECD, while the eurozone and the US will score two quarters of growth.
The Conservatives seized on the forecasts today, which contradict the Treasury’s prediction in the spring budget that the economy will bounce back by the autumn…
(3 Sept 2009)
UN: Rich countries will suffer unless they help poor on climate change
Ashley Seager, The Guardian
The world’s rich countries need to embark on a huge transfer of funds to developing countries in order for both groups to grow richer and reduce their carbon emissions significantly, a United Nations report urges today.
Delaying spending on mitigating climate change in the developing world “runs the real danger of locking in dirtier investments for several more decades”, says the annual survey from the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA).
Ahead of this weekend’s meeting of G20 finance ministers in London, the report estimates that developed countries need immediately to transfer around 1% of world gross product (WGP), or $500-600bn (£300-370bn), to poor countries.
Carrying on with business as usual, or making only minor changes, could lose 20% of WGP so doing nothing would be an expensive mistake, it argues.
UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon says the report “makes the case for meeting both the climate challenge and the development challenge by recognising the links between the two and proceeding along low-emissions, high-growth pathways”…
(1 Sept 2009)
The report can be accessed here.
‘Job not done’, Darling tells G20
BBC News
The Group of 20 richest nations should not be complacent as the global economy starts to recover, UK Chancellor Alistair Darling has said.
Germany and France want the G20 to discuss “exit strategies” from the measures used to stimulate economies at a meeting of finance ministers.
But Mr Darling told the Independent: “The biggest single risk to recovery is that people think the job is done.”…
(3 Sept 2009)
Doha Round: it’s important to have some clarity on a road map
Asit Ranjan Mishra, live.mint.com
New Delhi: India has convened a mini ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 3-4 September in New Delhi, seen as the first serious attempt to revive the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations. In an interview, Harsha Vardhana Singh, one of the four WTO deputy directors general, said he expects a clear road map to emerge from the talks for the proposed WTO ministerial meeting later this year in November-December. The Doha Round, launched in 2001, was stalled in July last year over differences between advanced and emerging economies, mainly on the level of protection for farmers in developing countries.
The US, European Union, Japan and other developed countries, apart from the Group of 20 (G-20) nations, are expected to attend the New Delhi meeting.
Edited excerpts:
What are the expectations of WTO from the mini-ministerial that has been convened by India?
This mini-ministerial is a special effort by India to contribute in a positive way to take this (the Doha Round) forward. And hopefully when ministers get together, there will be greater clarity on the manner in which further progress can be made…
(24 Aug 2009)
