ID :
31956
Mon, 11/24/2008 - 10:39
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/31956
The shortlink copeid
APEC LEADERS AGREE TO SPEND AND HAUL GLOBAL ECONOMY OUT OF RECESSION
From Mikhail Raj Abdullah
LIMA, Nov 24 (Bernama) -- Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) leaders
have agreed to Malaysia's call for member economies to coordinate their fiscal
stimulus packages to increase spending in efforts to haul the global economy out
of the crippling recession.
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Mohd Najib Razak said Asia-Pacific
economies must raise liquidity and lending to consumers to boost trade and
investment.
"Apec leaders decided that the fiscal stimulus in the form of an
expansionary budget is necessary to save the world from sliding into recession,"
Najib told Malaysian journalists after the first day of the two-day leaders'
summit here.
"We must restore confidence in our economies," he said.
This is the first time that Apec leaders dedicated the entire first day of
the two-day summit, hosted by Peruvian President Alan Garcia at the Ministry of
Defence Convention Centre, to discussing the global economic crisis.
Najib said that economies, both Apec and non-Apec, must get their act
together to prevent the global economy from slipping into recession.
"They cannot be complacent; they must resort to expansionary means to save
the world."
He said each country must embark on a fiscal stimulus in a co-coordinated
fashion and ascertain the amount of injection that is required.
At the moment, what has been decided is that the fiscal stimulus must be
calculated on a global basis.
Among countries which have instituted comprehensive stimulus packages are
China, which implemented a package worth US$750 billion, but credit from the
proposed US$600 billion package by the United States is slow in coming.
For Bretton Woods institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and
the World Bank, Najib said they must play the role of providing the liquidity
via short-term capital to certain countries facing balance of payments problem.
Najib, who is also Malaysia's finance minister, said these agencies needed
to ascertain the amount of injection which was needed to stimulate economic
activity in countries grappling with the recession.
To this end, he said, leaders now saw the need for a new global financial
architecture or Bretton Woods ll, which means the IMF and World Bank would have
to transform themselves given the dynamics in the global economy.
The whole IMF thinking is not valid anymore, he said.
In a statement issued after the first day of deliberations, Apec leaders
said they would support export credit agencies, international financial
institutions and private banks to ensure that adequate finance was available to
business, including small and medium-sized enterprises.
"This will keep trade and investment flowing in the region," the leaders
representing the 21-member economies said in the statement.
Najib said the leaders also agreed that this was no time for economies to
resort to protectionism, but the better option was embracing a more open economy
that will support expansionary policies.
-- BERNAMA
LIMA, Nov 24 (Bernama) -- Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) leaders
have agreed to Malaysia's call for member economies to coordinate their fiscal
stimulus packages to increase spending in efforts to haul the global economy out
of the crippling recession.
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Mohd Najib Razak said Asia-Pacific
economies must raise liquidity and lending to consumers to boost trade and
investment.
"Apec leaders decided that the fiscal stimulus in the form of an
expansionary budget is necessary to save the world from sliding into recession,"
Najib told Malaysian journalists after the first day of the two-day leaders'
summit here.
"We must restore confidence in our economies," he said.
This is the first time that Apec leaders dedicated the entire first day of
the two-day summit, hosted by Peruvian President Alan Garcia at the Ministry of
Defence Convention Centre, to discussing the global economic crisis.
Najib said that economies, both Apec and non-Apec, must get their act
together to prevent the global economy from slipping into recession.
"They cannot be complacent; they must resort to expansionary means to save
the world."
He said each country must embark on a fiscal stimulus in a co-coordinated
fashion and ascertain the amount of injection that is required.
At the moment, what has been decided is that the fiscal stimulus must be
calculated on a global basis.
Among countries which have instituted comprehensive stimulus packages are
China, which implemented a package worth US$750 billion, but credit from the
proposed US$600 billion package by the United States is slow in coming.
For Bretton Woods institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and
the World Bank, Najib said they must play the role of providing the liquidity
via short-term capital to certain countries facing balance of payments problem.
Najib, who is also Malaysia's finance minister, said these agencies needed
to ascertain the amount of injection which was needed to stimulate economic
activity in countries grappling with the recession.
To this end, he said, leaders now saw the need for a new global financial
architecture or Bretton Woods ll, which means the IMF and World Bank would have
to transform themselves given the dynamics in the global economy.
The whole IMF thinking is not valid anymore, he said.
In a statement issued after the first day of deliberations, Apec leaders
said they would support export credit agencies, international financial
institutions and private banks to ensure that adequate finance was available to
business, including small and medium-sized enterprises.
"This will keep trade and investment flowing in the region," the leaders
representing the 21-member economies said in the statement.
Najib said the leaders also agreed that this was no time for economies to
resort to protectionism, but the better option was embracing a more open economy
that will support expansionary policies.
-- BERNAMA
