What do you think about the suggestions at the G20 summit?
April 6, 2009
The issues that came up at the just ended G20 summit include refloating financial world economies, some 1.1 trillion US dollars for developing countries and also committment to protectingtrade ( avoiding protectionism).
So this is what these 20 countries have suggested, the question now is, how does this affect Ghana?
The British High Commissioner to Ghana Dr Nicholas Westcott said on the super morning show today that Ghana will indeed benefit from the 1.1 trillion dollars relief for developing countries.
Skeptics may say that these suggestions are made for only the West and and they are all talk.
Will the suggestions at the G20 summit solve any of the economic problems in Ghana?
Tell me what you think.
please send your comments here…………………………..
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4 Responses to “What do you think about the suggestions at the G20 summit?”
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From my perspective,we should adopt some mechanism of Coperate Governance stategies.
Kojo, can we have some consistency please? Live streaming on the supermorning show is not working. Thanks!
WORLD ECONOMIC MELTDOWN: CALLS FOR STIMULUS FOR ECONOMY - BETTER LATE THAN NEVER:
It is heart warming to hear concerns being expressed by various groups and individual about the urgent need for solutions by Ghana to insulate itself against the backlash of the current global economic meltdown confronting the world’s richest nations in particular but the world at large.
On March 11 2009, African leaders, heads of financial and academic institutions as well as civil society organizations met in Tanzania at a conference organized by the IMF and co-hosted by the country to brainstorm and find the necessary solutions that will help the continent withstand the repercussions of the global economic crisis. The outcome of the conference was to feed into deliberations at the G-20 Summit in London on April 3 2009 which will have the South African President representing the continent.
At the conference the IMF Managing Director catalogued the impact of the crisis on Africa’s growth and the need for urgent assistance from its development partners as follows “Growth in Africa this year will be about three per cent, half of the growth rate in the past decade, and this could be worse. Even more serious is the human cost and the drift towards poverty and civil strife. The political and economic challenges facing Africa are serious. The bad news is that many African countries will require at least $25 billion in concessional financing to keep foreign reserves at a reasonable level. Africa’s development partners must move rapidly to meet its financing needs. Only a few years ago, donors promised to increase financing in Africa to $50 billion by next year and later $75 billion, they must keep the promise. The OECD countries must also end their regime of protectionism.”*
The IMF Bosses’ comments did not go without serious criticism from particularly civil society organizations. They wondered why the IMF failed to take necessary steps to prevent the crisis. They also questioned why developed countries are introducing stimulus packages to address the recession and provide opportunities for their people, but African countries are unable to take similar steps due to IMF restrictions. The Tanzanian President, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, while commending the IMF on some of their contributions which aided economic growth in some countries on the continent also did not mince words on the criticism when he said that if the crisis was caused by an African country the IMF would have responded by rolling out benchmarks and conditionalities for the country.
Our own Busumru Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General, added his voice to the critique when he delivered the keynote address as follows: “African countries are victims of a crisis that they did not create, the financial recklessness that has led to this. We meet in extra-ordinary times, to examine the economic equivalent of a Tsunami, which if not tackled, could derail Africa’s economic growth… Many thought Africa might be spared, but they failed to realise what globalisation means… IMF is controversial. A time-table for reform is now needed. The IMF needs to develop a new lending model.”
Back at home similar calls have recently been made by some in the business community, academia and currently politicians like Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom. This could not have come at any better time - it is better late than never as the saying goes. Hitherto it seems when global crisis begin elsewhere that does not affect us immediately we do not take steps to ensure that we brace ourselves against any repercussions. As has been clearly demonstrated above, the repercussions of the current crisis on poorer countries like ours is obviously not in doubt and so the earlier we search for solutions the better it will be for us. If that is not done what will happen is that developed countries will find the solutions and later sell them to us at high cost as has always been the case in such crisis situations. This in my opinion is largely responsible for the current situation of underdevelopment in most of Africa.
In the analysis of how the concept of globalization, which is the cause of this crisis originated, some analysts argue that globalization is an offspring of neoliberalism just as colonization and neo-colonization are offspring of capitalism. The contention is that capitalism since its inception has always used its internal mechanisms to resolve any challenges it encountered throughout history.*
The consequence of this on the African continent in reality is that, capitalism in the West resulted in the search for raw materials for industrialization which were found on the African continent and led to the infamous Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. The damage caused by the trade is well known to all of us. Also, the increase in production resulted in the search for markets which were also found on the continent. Similarly, the clamour for power over control of markets led to the Berlin Conference of 1880 for the partitioning of the continent among major European countries and eventually to colonization. The struggle for impendence by African countries after World War II led to the creation of the IMF, the World Band and the WTO at Bretton Woods in 1945 by America and Britain hence the accolade “Bretton Woods Institutions” by the institutions. This ushered in the world economic order referred to as globalization. All these global transformations came about as a result of major challenges which the global economy has to grapple with similar to what we are experiencing currently.
Therefore, as the most powerful world economic leaders meet in London for the G-20 Summit to look for solutions to the crisis, Africa cannot afford to be unconcerned otherwise it will pay the price heavily later for having to buy the solutions that will be found from the Summit in whatever form through multilateral and bilateral relations due to the backlash of the crisis. So while applauding those who have raised concerns about the need for immediate action in Ghana, we hope that this will not end up as wishful thinking. Government needs to act and act immediately by marshalling all available human resources both within and without to find a way-out. The impact of a crisis of such magnitude will transcend all barriers including political and therefore everybody needs to get involved so that together we can find our own solutions to our problems.
S. A. Achanso.
* More information on the African Conference at
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com
* Also find more information on the analysis of globalization at
http://www.globalwelfare.net
it would affect ghana scantily, i dont think 1.1tr $ wud be enuf for developing countries. this g20 top leaders are already developed, so any little thing they give us would be as though they have done enuf meanwhile its peanuts. leaders of the world should sit down and make the developing countries a beeter place to live. thank you.