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G20: One Size Does Not Fit All
Analysis by Sanjay Suri
LONDON, Apr 1 (IPS) - There is on the face of it a fairness in the language hanging over the G20
summit that is quite seductive. "A global crisis requires a global solution,"
everyone who matters seems to be saying, at least towards the richer end of
the G20 spectrum. Such talk is getting louder by the day as heads of state and
government head for a meeting in London Thursday to address the global
economic crisis.
There is also something of a united nations kind of speak about the G20
gathering. The leaders of the 20 rich and emerging economies, it is
announced, represent 90 percent of global GNP (gross national product), 80
percent of world trade and two-thirds of the world's population.
The suggestion is, agree here, and you can have a global agreement is
sorted. And the implication is that everyone is in it together and that
everyone needs together to do more or less the same kind of thing; bring
financial stimulus, encourage banks to lend, drop protectionism…
This catch-all language, several analysts are warning, is more deceptive than
it sounds; it can in fact be dangerous.
"There is this myth that everybody has to follow exactly the same rules in the
global economy," John Hilary, executive director of the rights group War on
Want told IPS. "I think one of the key principles which has been tried in the
global trade rules is the principle of special and differential treatment. Which
says that what the developed countries like the U.S. or the EU have to do is
not necessarily the right type of policy for developing countries to adopt."
Any acknowledgement of such differences is largely missing from the G20
rhetoric so far. The accent is now on a one-size-fits-all kind of solution
that does not seem to leave room for any acknowledgement from developing
countries that the G20 must agree that some countries do one kind of thing,
and other countries another.
On the face of it that is a discriminatory suggestion; but in effect it is the
apparently non-discriminatory language that many are finding
discriminatory. The verbalised oneness is taking insufficient note of gaping
differences on the ground.
"It is quite clear that there are certain principles and certain policies which
are specifically relevant to developing countries at their stage in
development, which are no longer going to be relevant to fully industrialised
countries," says Hilary. "I think it is really important to be able to hold on to
that key principle."
That principle is at the heart of the differences in negotiations on a single
world trade agreement. There is a broad push coming from G20 leaders that
such an agreement should be concluded; but this is no more than an
agreement that there should be an agreement. And without any
acknowledgement of that principle of special and differential treatment.
The G20 as a grouping of rich and emerging economies seems to represent
wealth and new influence. It is expected now that countries like China and
India must pay towards a reformed International Monetary Fund, in which
they would then have greater say. The countries are spoken of as the new
emerging entities, with little substantive thought for the hundreds of millions
of the poor within them. The countries seem not to occupy the nowhere
space of rich or at least now richer countries with poor people.
There is of course an acknowledgement of poverty around the world and that
the G20 must do something about it – such a gathering could hardly be
complete without statements of that kind. But the G20 meeting can expect to
be measured by the number of dollars that are attached to those words,
amid fears that the G20 meeting will be rich only in statements of the right
sort.
Putting numbers to words, the international charity Oxfam has asked G20
leaders to produce a 580 billion dollars a year rescue package for poor
countries made up of an immediate fiscal stimulus for the poorest countries
of at least 24 billion dollars, debt relief, and fulfilment of existing pledges to
increase development aid.
That sounds like a lot of money, but is a fraction of 8.42 trillion dollars
promised by rich country governments to bail out banks, Oxfam says. This
kind of bailout package, it says, would be enough to end global extreme
poverty for 50 years and a massive step towards ending it forever.
"When you look at the amount of money that has been found for banks it
seems inconceivable that G20 leaders will stand aside and allow the
economic crisis to destroy poor peoples lives," Oxfam chief executive
Barbara Stocking said in a statement. "Developing countries are reeling from
dramatic declines in trade, remittances and foreign investment. Rich
governments whose policies contributed to the crisis have a responsibility to
help those who cannot afford their own bailouts."
Without urgent action, she said, "hundreds of millions of the world's poorest
people will fall further into poverty. Losing your job is devastating wherever
it happens but for millions people in poor countries, without benefits and
health services to fall back on, unemployment will push them into
destitution."
And yet, nobody is expecting anything like that kind of money coming from
the G20, or even a small fraction of it. Or even much acknowledgement that
different policies are needed for different countries.
"I think what we will see from the G20 is a statement of intent and best
endeavour clauses which say that countries will not be going hell for leather
for protectionism," Hilary told IPS. "But I don't think we'll have the same sort
of subtleties of saying there must be one rule for developed countries and
one rule for developing countries."
Answers like outside of the G20, Hilary says. "What's really important here is
for developing countries not to look to the G20 as some sort of saviour for
their problems. The G20 is a group of self-interested rich and emerging
economies. They're not going to be delivering the sort of future that the
people of the world need, so I think we should be looking elsewhere for the
real change we need." (END/2009)
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