Finance chiefs to ponder Iraq reconstruction, terror funds
Finance chiefs to ponder Iraq reconstruction, terror funds
Dirk Beveridge, Associated Press, Dubai
Global economic leaders will tackle rebuilding Iraq and
cutting off terror funds at a money summit here, and an official
said Friday the World Bank will push to narrow the gap between
rich and poor nations that came into sharp focus as recent trade
talks collapsed.
Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Eight
leading economies were expected Saturday to discuss concerns
about the value of China's currency - viewed by many as too low
against the U.S. dollar as China's huge trade surplus continues
to grow.
As the top finance leaders hold their first such high-powered
meeting in an Arab country over the next several days, World Bank
President James Wolfensohn will urge a stronger commitment to
giving developing nations better opportunities to catch up with
the developed countries, a bank official said.
Wolfensohn and International Monetary Fund Managing Director
Horst Kohler were to meet with reporters later Friday, ahead of
next week's annual meetings of both banks.
One focus of the money summit will be on rebuilding Iraq after
the U.S.-led war that toppled Saddam Hussein, although good
estimates for the costs aren't yet available.
Further, the failure a week ago of World Trade Organization
talks in Cancun, Mexico, highlighted that developing nations are
banding together and demanding better deals from the wealthy West
in the globalized economy, the World Bank official said.
Wolfensohn will be lobbying for ways to reduce the imbalances,
the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The IMF and the G8 finance ministers, including U.S. Treasury
Secretary John Snow, see the global economy poised for its best
growth since the 2001 recession, although some scattered problems
- including the fast-growing U.S. budget deficit - could hinder
the advance, according to bank forecasts.
New growth will also be affected by the less secure world that
emerged after the Sept. 11 terror attacks and subsequent U.S.-led
invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, IMF chief economist Kenneth
Rogoff said Thursday. Rogoff cautioned that "this rise in
underlying geopolitical uncertainties" could rein in economic
growth, albeit slightly, over the next 20 years.
Touring the region en route to Dubai, Snow said Friday in
Islamabad that Pakistan has made "enormous strides" in choking
off terrorism funding by cracking down on money laundering and
regulating the "hawala" fund-transfer system that sends money
around the world with little documentation.
The G8 ministers are expected to reiterate their commitment to
choking off terror funding in a communique to be issued after
their meeting here Saturday. A key way forward, bank officials
said Friday, will be creating more jobs in the Middle East, where
unemployment remains chronic in many countries.
The G8 ministers were working on a statement that also would
pledge to "strengthen the dialogue with other major economic
areas to promote a smooth adjustment of international imbalances
based on market mechanisms," an apparent reference to the Chinese
yuan, according to a draft seen by the AP.
Beijing has faced growing calls to let the yuan, also known as
the renminbi, or "people's money," appreciate, which might
alleviate the threats posed by China's burgeoning trade surplus,
but the Chinese leadership has thus far balked at any such
commitments.