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.