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1320418480IBON Working Paper G20 - Boon or Bane 2011
1320418480IBON Working Paper G20 - Boon or Bane 2011
This IBON International Working Paper is an introductory material that explains the basics of the G-20. It is intended to generate broader awareness about this emergent global institution, its growing role in international governance, and its impact on other multilateral bodies, on countries in general and on developing countries in particular.
Copyright IBON International, 2011 IBON International holds the rights to this publication. The publication may be cited in parts as long as IBON is properly acknowledged as the source and IBON is furnished copies of the final work where the quotation or citation appears.
The persistence of the global recession has led critics to point to the failure of the G-20 to address the real problems besetting the global economy. Given its clout in the global economy, people are expecting it to be able to do more than put out fires. But is the G-20 really competent to adequately address not just the short-term issues such as restoring financial stability but long-term issues related to development especially with regards to the appropriate development strategy for developing countries? Questions of legitimacy and on the continuing bias of the key players on the primacy of the private sector in economic growth have also been raised against the G-20. The dilemma for the developing countries is that no matter if they do not place their bets on the G-20 given its dubious record in truly addressing the particular long-term needs of developing countries, whatever the G-20 decides will affect even the poorest developing country in the remotest corner of the globe. The eyes of the world will again be focused on the coming G-20 summit in Cannes in November 2011 with the continuing global recession, the current financial turbulence, the possibility of a double-dip recession, the prospects of continued high unemployment and the volatile situation in the Eurozone serving as backdrop.
Original mandate
According to its own pronouncements, the G-20 was established to provide a new mechanism for informal dialogue in the framework of the Bretton Woods institutional system, to broaden the discussions on key economic and financial policy issues among systemically significant economies and promote co-operation to achieve stable and sustainable world economic growth that benefits all. (Communique, Berlin 1999) The G-20s self-appointed mandate was to help shape the international agenda, to discuss economic and financial issues in areas where consensus had not yet been achieved. Its avowed purpose is to serve as a forum for the discussion of ways to prevent and resolve international financial crises. While its initial focus was on issues related to international financial stability, the G-20 has gone further into tackling a broad range of longer-term economic issues affecting the global economy. Among these are the issues of stable and sustainable development that benefits all countries, the effectiveness of aid programs, regional economic integration, the development of domestic financial markets, food security, aid for trade and knowledge sharing.
To highlight the high-level of political support given to the G-20, all chairs would have to be finance or treasury ministers. In 2002, a management Troika was established consisting of the previous, current, and immediately upcoming chairs. This has ensured the continuity of the group. The Troika proposes agenda issues for the G-20, selects speakers in consultation with members, and deals with the logistics of meetings. It also gives the current and upcoming chairs ready also from access to the experience of the previous years chairman. The G-20 operates without a permanent secretariat or staff. The incumbent chair establishes a temporary secretariat for the duration of his term to coordinate the group's work and organize its meetings. In 2010, French President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed that a permanent secretariat should be established. Seoul and Paris were suggested as possible locations for its headquarters. China and Brazil supported the proposal while Japan and Italy opposed it. South Korea proposed a "cyber secretariat" as an alternative.
3. Global or regional systemic issues. Priority is given to regional or systemic issues where their collective action is best placed to deliver beneficial changes. 4. Private sector participation. The importance of private actors is recognized in contributing to growth and therefore policies should be business friendly. 5. Complementarity. It is necessary to avoid duplicating the efforts of other global actors, focusing the G-20 efforts on areas where they have a comparative advantage. 6. Outcome orientation. Focus will be on carrying out practical measures to address significant problems to achieve tangible results.
g) Increase access to finance for the poor and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). h) Build sustainable revenue bases for inclusive growth and social equity by improving developing country tax administration systems and policies; and i) Promote sharing of knowledge and experience, especially between developing countries, in order to improve their capacity and ensure that the broadest range of experiences are used in designing national policies.
Does the so-called Seoul Consensus really spell a radical departure from the now widely discredited Washington Consensus?
The so-called Seoul Consensus has become the avowed framework guiding the G-20 in its approach to global development issues. From this we can more or less figure out what to expect from the upcoming G-20 summit in Cannes. Aside from its focus on economic growth instead of the emphasis on the maintenance of a stable macro-economic environment that do not have any direct bearing on economic growth; and the acknowledgment of the right of countries to chart their own national development strategies instead of the one-size fits all concept of development, there is really not much difference from the old principles and policies promoted by the Washington Consensus. The Seoul Consensus still holds as sacred the primacy of the private sector and the market. Government intervention is desirable only for it to come to the rescue of the big banks and private corporations that are too big to fall. Governments main economic role is to formulate and implement policies that are private-sector friendly. Good infrastructure like roads and ports is certainly one of the prerequisites of economic development but it does not have a direct bearing on the development of local industries. It often happens that it is foreign corporations that are the main beneficiaries of improved roads, bridges and ports not to mention the big profits that foreign contractors would get from these construction projects. The G-20 is actively promoting the so-called public-private partnership (PPPs) in carrying out large infrastructure projects. It has appointed a panel of 17 individuals mainly from the private sector to review the infrastructure financing plans of the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and make recommendations. Concerns have been raised that the panel members represent mainly the interests of the big private investment and insurance firms. There are concerns that deals might be structured in favor of the multinational firms at the expense of governments. The stress on the mobilization of domestic resources is fine as over-reliance on external aid often means being open to unwarranted external interference; but this sounds like an attempt of the developed countries to get away from their donor commitments in connection with the Millennium Development Goals. The developing countries of course at this point do not have sufficient resources to fuel any ambitious industrialization program that would be needed if they are to catch up.
The avowed commitment to ensure food security does not address the problem decisively because as many progressive economists point out in order to ensure long-term food security the developing countries must become self-reliant in food. The developed countries usual concept of food security is to produce enough supply of food products in the market. This can also mean the rich countries providing subsidies to their agro-industrial corporations and their food aid program that can destroy the agriculture in poor countries and keep them dependent on food imports. In this part of the paper, we shall present to the reader other fora and initiatives so that the reader will have a chance to make his judgment on which analyses and approaches best capture the complex problems faced by the worlds economy and offer the most appropriate solutions to solve those problems.
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the entire planet, in other words all the members of the United Nations. It made the proposition that the reform of the international system must entail the pursuit of long term objectives such as sustainable and equitable growth, the creation of employment, the responsible use of natural resources and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as well as the more immediate concerns such as the food and financial crisis. The Commission stressed that commitment to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and addressing the problem of climate change remain as overarching priorities. The Commission also concluded that the current crisis has shown the flawed belief in the selfcorrecting and efficient workings of the market. While this has brought benefits to some it has also enabled defects in one economic system to spread quickly around the world bringing recessions and impoverization to developing countries. Among the recommendations of the commission were the following: 1. A New Global Reserve System that may be viewed as a greatly expanded SDR that would contribute to global stability, economic strength, and global equity. The dangers of a single-country reserve system have long been recognized, as the accumulation of debt undermines confidence and stability. But a two (or three) country reserve system, to which the world seems to be moving, may be equally unstable. The new Global Reserve System that is being proposed is feasible, non-inflationary, and could be easily implemented. 2. The report cited the growing international consensus in support of reform of the governance, accountability, and transparency in the Bretton Woods Institutions. The in these institutions have impaired their ability to take adequate actions to prevent and respond to crises. Their policies have also disadvantaged developing countries and emerging market economies by imposition of pro-cyclical policies that worsened the effects of the recession and prevented recovery. Major reforms in the governance of these institutions, including those giving greater voice to developing countries and greater transparency are thus necessary. 3. The commission proposed the creation of a Global Economic Council to address areas of concern in the functioning of the global economic system in a comprehensive way. At a level equivalent with the General Assembly and the Security Council, such a Global Economic Council should meet annually at the Heads of State and Government level to assess developments and provide leadership in economic, social and ecological issues. It would promote development, secure consistency and coherence in the policy goals of the major international organizations and support consensus building among governments on efficient and effective solutions for issues of global economic governance. Such a Council could also promote accountability of all international economic organizations,
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identify gaps that need to be filled to ensure the efficient operation of the global economic and financial system, and help set the agenda for global economic and financial reforms. Representation would be based on the constituency system, and designed to ensure that all continents and all major economies are represented. At the same time, its size should be guided by the fact that the council must remain small enough for effective discussion and decision-making. All important global institutions, such as the World Bank, IMF, WTO, ILO and members of the UN Secretariat dealing with economic and social issues would provide supporting information and participate in the Council. This Council can provide a more democratically representative alternative to the G-20.
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developing countries and ensure steadily accelerating economic and social development and peace and justice for present and future generations. The declaration cited the independence from colonial and alien domination of a large number of peoples and nations as the greatest and most significant achievement during the last decades. Technological progress has also made it possible to solve the problem of poverty and for improving the well-being of all peoples and yet the majority of countries remain mired in poverty and underdevelopment. It observed, however, that vestiges of alien and colonial domination, foreign occupation, racial discrimination, apartheid and neo-colonialism remain and serve as the greatest obstacles to the full emancipation and progress of the developing countries. The Declaration stressed that the political, economic and social well-being of present and future generations would depend more than ever on co-operation between all the members of the international community on the basis of sovereign equality and the removal of the great disparities that exist between them. Some of the important principles on which the new international economic order was to be founded were stated as follows: 1. The sovereign equality of States, self-determination of all peoples, inadmissibility of the acquisition of territories by force, territorial integrity and non-interference in the internal affairs of other States. 2. Full and effective participation on the basis of equality of all countries in the solving of world economic problems in the common interest of all countries, bearing in mind the necessity to ensure the accelerated development of all the developing countries. 3. The right of every country to adopt the economic and social system that it deems the most appropriate for its own development. 4. Full permanent sovereignty of every State over its natural resources and all economic activities. Each State is entitled to exercise effective control over them and their exploitation with means suitable to its own situation, including the right to nationalization or transfer of ownership to its nationals. No State may be subjected to economic, political or any other type of coercion to prevent the free and full exercise of this inalienable right. 5. Regulation and supervision of the activities of transnational corporations by taking measures in the interest of the national economies of the countries where such transnational corporations operate. 6. Preferential and non-reciprocal treatment for developing countries, wherever feasible, in all fields of international economic co-operation whenever possible.
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7. The strengthening, through individual and collective actions, of mutual economic, trade, financial and technical co-operation among the developing countries. (Declaration on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order, 1974) These principles enunciated more than thirty years ago remain valid more than ever in todays world. Japan, South Korea and Taiwan would achieve late-industrialization by applying most of these principles in their development strategy. But the US together with other developed countries tried everything to discredit these principles and block the implementation of policies designed to address the disparities between the developed and developing countries. These efforts culminated in US President Ronald Reagans unilateral declaration of the death of the NIEO at the 1981 Cancun Summit on International Development Issues. The developed countries led by the US subsequently succeeded in ramming through the neoliberal paradigm called the Washington Consensus as the framework for global economic governance. It would not be an exaggeration to say that this same Washington Consensus is what has brought the world to the mess we find ourselves in today.
3. Despite the worsened debt problems of the developing countries as a result of the crisis, there is still no international mechanism or institution for debt restructuring and orderly debt work-out. The G-77 and China pointed to the continuing problems experienced in particular by the developing countries due to the persistence of the global financial and economic crisis. These include: 1. Continued weakness in export earnings in goods, due to lower demand and to the prices of export commodities which are still below the pre-crisis levels. 2. Continued weakness in earnings from tourism, other services and remittances from overseas workers and other services. 3. Reduced flow of foreign credit and foreign direct investments to many developing countries. Continued low level of foreign reserves in many countries, placing them at risk of entering a new debt crisis. 4. Reduced flow in ODA due to the new fiscal austerity measures being undertaken in many developed countries. 5. Increases in the incidence of poverty and unemployment. According to their analysis, the global financial and economic crisis was far from over and might even take a turn for the worse. The systemic problems facing the global economy have yet to be decisively addressed and resolved. The G-77 and China made the following proposals to address these important issues: 1. On the Question of Debt. They called for a temporary moratorium or standstill on debt servicing for developing countries that are in a serious financial predicament. They cited the UN Secretary General Report which recognized the devastating effects of the financial crisis on the debt situation of developing countries. The UNCTAD Secretariat had also previously proposed a temporary debt moratorium or standstill on servicing of official debt for low-income countries. To buttress their argument, the G-77 and China pointed to the publication by the World Bank under the title "Global Development Finance, External Debt of Developing Countries 2010", showing that at the end of 2008, the dollar value of the total external debt of developing countries had surpassed US$ 3.7 trillion. The G-77 and China also stressed that debt sustainability should not be viewed as simply the capacity to continue servicing debt obligations, but also, as a recognition that debt servicing costs necessarily means fewer funds available to fight poverty and meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). 2. On Mobilizing Additional Resources for Development: As a result of declining foreign
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investment, trade flows, revenues from tourism and remittances, developing countries faced an external financing gap of approximately US$ 350 billion in 2009. The G-77 and China stressed that in order to adequately respond to the crisis and address its long-term effects both short-term liquidity, long-term development finance and grants would need to be made available to developing countries. 3. On Official Development Assistance. According to the G-77 and China, Official Development Assistance (ODA) should remain as an essential source of financing in concert with other sources for financing development and facilitating the achievement of national development objectives, including the MDGs. The global crisis cannot be used as an excuse for the developed countries to avoid their aid commitments. Developed countries must meet and increase their existing bilateral and multilateral official development assistance commitments and targets made in the United Nations Millennium Declaration. The developed countries are still far from achieving the longstanding goal of mobilizing 0.7% of GNP in ODA. Debt relief should also not be considered as part of but additional to ODA contribution. 4. On Use of SDRs for Development Purposes. The G-77 and China welcomed the renewed use of SDRs as an important source for financing development in developing countries. They proposed an expansion of SDR allocations as an effective and low-cost measure to quickly boost global liquidity to meet external financing gap and implement counter-cyclical policies to lessen the impact of the crisis on their economies. In contrast to IMF loan financing, there are no conditionalities tied to SDRs. 5. On Reform of the Bretton Woods Institutions. The G77 and China pointed out that there was a vital need for major reform of the Bretton Woods Institutions, particularly their governance structures, based on full and fair representation of developing countries. As an initial step, they proposed that the developing countries as a group should at least have parity in voting power in the decision making process within the Bretton Woods Institutions. 6. The Reform of the International Monetary Fund. The G-77 and China stressed the need for two critical actions that must be pursued. First, there was an urgent need for fundamental reforms in the IMF governance structure. Second, the IMF must provide more comprehensive, evenhanded and flexible financial responses to the needs of member countries but should refrain from imposing pro-cyclical conditionalities, respecting their need for policy space and helping them overcome the crisis. The G77 and China expressed their grave concern over the fact that the International Monetary Fund continues to prescribe pro-cyclical policies in developing countries which can unnecessarily exacerbate economic downturns. They pointed out that such policies are in violation of the international consensus to undertake a concerted effort to stimulate global demand.
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would be negative at first but where they could be expected to turn positive eventually, and where prices would be set to reflect development needs rather than comparative static efficiency (getting prices wrong). According to the authors, the Washington Consensus concept of development was essentially giving free rein to market forces in a stable macroeconomic environment. The first five points advocate a secure and stable macroeconomic regime and the next five the marketization of the economy (privatization, liberalization and deregulation). And the successful experience of the Northeast Asian countries was due to the fact that they did not follow most of the prescriptions of the Washington Consensus. While the Washington Consensus advocated less government control and regulation, the successful industrializers maintained a strong state that took the reins of the whole development process setting up the state agencies that oversaw and guided the entire process of industrialization. In Japan MITI oversaw the entire process of creating new industries and nurturing each to the point where it could be launched into international competition. In Korea, the Economic Planning Board was set up to draw up economic plans; the Ministry of Trade and Industry to support industrial policy and export; and the Ministry of Finance to finance the economic plans. In Taiwan, the institutions that were established included the Central Economic Planning Board and the Industrial Development Bureau and the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), the agency set up to capture and diffuse technology. In China, the principal state agency guiding the process of industrialization is the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), that coordinates national investment plans and the development of new industries. Instead of hasty liberalization of foreign trade, these countries nurtured select industries protecting them from stiff foreign competition at an early stage of their development and gradually releasing them to the competition of the international market when they were deemed strong enough. They instituted strict controls on the inflow and outflow of capital selecting in which sectors to allow FDI and where the state maintains a monopoly such sectors as the energy, communications, finance and media. These are only some of the ways in which these Asian countries broke away from the neoliberal precepts promoted nay imposed by the Washington institutions on developing countries as conditionalities for loans and grants.
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access to loans and grants. These policies have resulted in the economic ruin of many third world countries and the impoverishment of millions. As a consequence, G-7 and G-8 meetings were being routinely hounded by protests from peoples organizations and social movements decrying the ruinous policies being imposed by the Bretton Woods institutions under G-7 control. Sharp criticisms were also being leveled at the G-7 for being elitist and undemocratic. Many were questioning its self-appointed mandate to formulate policies behind closed doors and implement those policies that could decide the fate of the whole of humanity. To fend off such criticisms challenging its legitimacy, the G-7 countries set up the G-20 which was an institution firmly under its control but having some legitimacy as it included in its fold emerging-market countries like China, Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa that had some credibility among developing countries because of their growing economic power and their record of advocacy for the rights and welfare of developing countries. The formation of the G-20 can actually be seen as an attempt of the G-7 countries to coopt the above-mentioned emerging-market countries and employ the tactic of divide and rule against the G-77 and China so that the same free market principles that have proven so disastrous to the world economy especially to the poor countries can continue to prevail. Much hype has been generated in the western media about G-20 summit declarations on supposed reforms on the international finance architecture, on the policy directions and governance of the Bretton Woods institutions and so forth. None of these promises of reforms have come to pass. The G-20 is not a governing body that implements policies. As the G-20 initiators themselves have said it is a forum of heads of state of 20 economies that discusses some important economic issues. Its decisions are not binding on members. The institutions that have real economic enforcement capability are the IMF, World Bank and WTO. And these are firmly under the control of the G-7 countries. The IMF and World Bank continue to impose neoliberal conditionalities and pro-cyclical policies that exacerbate the effects of the crisis on the developing countries. The WTO rules are still stacked against the poor countries and in favor of the rich countries like the TRIPS that cater to the interests of corporate patent holders such as the huge pharmaceutical companies. The G-20 is therefore a convenient vehicle for the G-7 countries to gain legitimacy for their positions while at the same time having the flexibility that if they can not get the imprimatur of this informal forum, they are confident to have their way anyway because they control the levers of power in the economic institutions that really count -- the IMF, World Bank and WTO. We agree with the view of the Stiglitz Commission that in order to ensure the welfare of both the developed and developing countries in an increasingly integrated world an inclusive approach is necessary that would require the participation of all countries in the reform process transcending such groupings as the G-7, G-8 and the G-20.
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The proper forum to tackle both the short-term issues such as taking up the appropriate response to crises, and long-term issues such as those related to economic development strategies must be situated within the United Nations System provided deep-going reforms (not the cosmetic reforms proposed by the G-7 countries) are also instituted to rectify the democratic deficiencies in the governing organs of this world body. The G-77 and China is currently the international grouping that serves as the voice and muscle in negotiations within the United Nations system involving the immediate and long-term interests of the developing countries.
Conclusion
The G-20 Summit in Cannes will be held with a lot of dark clouds hanging over the world economy. After a slight rebound, the world economy has once again entered a period of great storm. Economic growth in the US and the Euro Zone has stalled with even bleaker forecasts in the coming period. All signs point to a general slowdown in the G-7 countries with the latest forecast of GDP growth of only 0.5% for 2011. Compounding the problem is the great constraints on the ability of governments to undertake pump-priming measures to stimulate expansion because of sovereign debt problems both in the US and the Euro Zone. The prospects of a double-digit recession, continued high unemployment and stagnant growth in the developed countries pose bigger problems for the developing countries worse than what they experienced in 2008. The slowdown in the developed countries will surely have a severe impact on the developing countries whose economies rely heavily on exports to the developed countries markets and will surely adversely affect their ability to sustain their economic growth. Thus, China has taken steps to turn its attention more and more to developing its domestic market. At the coming summit in Cannes, it can be expected that the G-7 countries would be very much preoccupied with the continued economic slowdown and the sovereign debt crisis in the US and Europe. In other words, they would most probably tend to be on crisis-mode instead of being in the mood to tackle the long-term issues of sustainable and equitable development. But that may very well be a blessing in disguise. The peoples of the third world cannot pin their hopes anyway on such groupings as the G-20 that are heavily dominated by the G-7 countries. They must assert their sovereignty in charting their own course in industrial development, in crafting their own investment and trade policies and in regulating capital flows according to their needs and objectives. The only really meaningful reforms of the global financial system are those that support the industrial development of backward economies, that cancel the iniquitous and burdensome debts and that promote fair trade to help the industrial development of third world countries. The economies of all countries must serve the needs of the people and not be geared merely
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towards generating corporate profits. In the capitalist countries, jobs must be created, incomes increased and consumption revived rather than pouring bailouts to the big banks and industrial corporations. Production must be restored for the purpose of expanding the peoples incomes and capacity to consume and on sustaining this by keeping them productive in a well-balanced economy. In underdeveloped countries, the most urgent task remains the development of national economies that takes into account the dialectical relation and balanced development of both industry and agriculture. At the same time, the basic demand for social and economic justice must be met. Land reform is necessary to address the problem of the most numerous class in the majority of the developing countries for better living standards. Decent and fair wages must be given to workers. Self-reliance in food must be achieved. The provision of health, education and other social services must be given top priority. Any development agenda worth its name must take into account these fundamental issues. Otherwise, humanity will forever be subjected to never-ending crises, the persistence of global poverty afflicting the vast majority of the worlds peoples not to mention the destruction of the planet due to environmental degradation resulting from the unbridled exploitation of the earths resources in the pursuit of corporate profits. #
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