April 02, 2003

And right after I started...

And right after I started paying for it


The Financial Times is going to be making some of its stories available on MSNBC.com. This is the paper I count on to balance the Wall Street Journal's rather Wall Street-centric view of the world. Today's issue featured a very important report that did not show up by the Journal:














Top financiers urge defence of world economy


By Alan Beattie in Washington



Published: April 1 2003 20:39 | Last Updated: April 2 2003 0:58








The world's top economic policymakers should promise now to take swift and concerted action - such as cutting interest rates - if the global economy weakens further, the leading association of financial institutions said on Tuesday.










 <A href="http://ads.ft.com/event.ng/Type=click&amp;FlightID=18646&amp;AdID=26767&amp;TargetID=12087&amp;Segments=3099,6198,6235,8535,9112,9122,9128,9179,9220,10086,10158,11079,11108,11154,11555,11694,11751,11950,12474,12970,13140,13306,13432&amp;Targets=3099,7972,6224,7947,7959,12087&amp;Values=31,51,63,77,84,93,100,150,165,239,249,477,541,553,600,639,647,931,1122,1123,1613,3614,3625,3799,3862,4432,4548,4571,4694,4872,5461,6186,6203,6362,6390,6391,6407,6619,6901,7137&amp;RawValues=&amp;Redirect=http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;5178765;7860051;r?http://www.britishairways.com/regional/usa/experience/cw_flash.html" target=_blank></A>


The warning from the Institute of International Finance, a private sector body representing banks, fund managers and finance houses, came as a run of poor figures showed weakening confidence across the world's large economies in the period before the war with Iraq.


The IIF, issuing its advice to ministers before next week's meetings of the International Monetary Fund, said the economic fragility went beyond the transitory effect of the war.


"It would be unfortunate if ministers came to Washington believing that an early end to the war would remove the need for action," said Charles Dallara, the IIF's managing director....


It goes on, and there is more from and about the letter at South Africa's News24:


"These problems should not be under-estimated as you gauge the need for clear measures."


And here's the letter in complete form.



The IIF's Managing Director said policy coordination by G7 authorities needs to include the following priorities:
 
— A bias of monetary policies toward further easing, underpinned by a joint commitment to act decisively if warranted by circumstance.
 
— Flexible management of fiscal policy in the short term without compromising longer-term stability.
 
— Compelling structural reforms, with focus on labor, product markets, pensions, and tax systems in Europe, bank and corporate restructuring in Japan, and corporate governance in the United States.
 
— Determined progress on trade liberalization. The Doha round now appears to be facing severe difficulties in part because of the issue of agricultural subsidies. It is imperative that the political will be mobilized to place the Doha round back on track.

Posted by Mitch Ratcliffe at April 2, 2003 07:03 PM | TrackBack
Comments
Post a comment









Remember personal info?