IFI policies and positions

Dr. José Antonio Ocampo

The role of the UN in addressing the crisis - Recommendations from the UN Commission of Experts

Dr. José Antonio Ocampo, Director, Program in Economic and Political Development, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University and member of the Commission of Experts of the President of the UN General Assembly on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System.

Jomo K. Sundaram

Impacts of the crisis and expanding the agenda for change
Jomo K. Sundaram, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations 

HI Resource Types: 

Chuck Freedman

Causes of, and responses to, the global financial crisis
Chuck Freedman, Co-Director, Centre for Monetary and Financial Economics, Carleton University.

Government of Canada: 

Monday Evening - Moderator's Introduction

Thinking the unthinkable – The global financial crisis as an opportunity for transformative and systemic change?
Welcome and introduction to the panel.
Moderator: Kari Polanyi Levitt, Emerita Professor of Economics, McGill University

What's missing in response to the global financial crisis: Presentations and Speeches (podcasts)

 Topic  Presentation  Speech
KEY NOTE: Thinking the unthinkable – The global financial crisis as an opportunity for transformative and systemic change?    Podcast
Causes of, and responses to, the global financial crisis - Chuck Freedman, Co-Director, Centre for Monetary and Financial Economics, Carleton University

Event: Conference on What's missing in the response to the global financial crisis? - October 29-20, 2009

Since September 2008, when the financial crisis took on global dimensions, the Group of Twenty has met three times at the level of Heads of State, and with a seeminly impressive array of commitments on tax issues, emergency finance, trade finance, global governance, regulating private capital, and redefining new roles for existing and new global institutions. But what is missing in their response to the global crisis? Who are the real winners and losers? What has really changed, and what hasn't? And are the levels of change commensurate with the tectonic shifts taking place in the global economy and with the degree of impact on the ground? Perhaps more importantly, are these the type of changes to ensure a crisis like this never happens again?

What: What's missing in the response ot the global financial crisis? 
Rethinking the international financial system during a time of crisis

Who: Organized by the Halifax Initiative Coalition; co-hosted by The North-South Institute and the University of Ottawa.

When: October 19 - 20, 2009.

Why: The conference will look at current responses to the financial crisis, identify where those responses are falling short, and propose some policy alternatives ahead of Canada hosting the Group of Eight Summit in 2010.

IN THIS SECTION

CONFERENCE DETAILS

Annual Report Cards on Canada and the IFIs

Since 2005, the Halifax Initiative Coalition has produced an annual Report Card on the Department of Finance's Annual Report to Parliament on the Bretton Woods and Related Agreements Act - namely on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Past Report Cards have found that Finance's Reports provide some good background information on the history, mandate and operations of the institutions. However, they fall short on providing the qualitative and quantitative information necessary to provide Canadians with an adequate picture of Canada's relations with the Bank and the Fund, and how our participation within these institutions is achieving our development and foreign policy goals. As this report is, effectively, the only means by which Parliament and the public is officially informed of Canada's relations with these institutions, the lack of information creates a serious gap in public accountability and awareness.

The G8 and G20 2010 Summits - An Agenda for Global Development

A Focus on Poverty, Economic Reform and Climate Change
In 2010 Canada will play host to the world.  The Vancouver Olympics and the G8 and G20 Summits in Muskoka and Toronto will draw the attention of millions to Canada, its geography, its values, policies and practices. If 2008 was the year of China, then 2010 can be the year of Canada.  Around the globe, Canadians proudly sport the Canadian flag in traveling as a symbol of Canadian democracy, openness and concern for human rights.  Yet our great international achievements of the past—Canadian contributions to the establishment of international peacekeeping, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Ottawa Treaty to Ban Landmines and the International Criminal Court—are today clouded by concerns about Canada’s current role in climate change negotiations, Afghanistan, reform of the global economy and addressing global poverty.

Monthly Issue Update - August 31, 2009

New loans for LICs: IMF “with a human face” or “a mask”?
At the end of July, the IMF announced “unprecedented” increases of concessional (grant/low-interest) lending for low-income countries (LICs) ($8 billion in the next two years; up to $17 billion by 2014), zero interest on new and existing loans through 2011, greater loan flexibility, and a set of new instruments to channel the increased support (Extended Credit Facility for flexible medium-term support; Standby Credit Facility for short-term and precautionary needs; and Rapid Credit Facility for emergency support with limited conditionality). The shift also came with assurances from Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Khan that new programs would focus on poverty reduction, economic growth, and safeguards on social protection. In addition to the anticipated new resources, IMF membership also greed this month to a new general allocation of Special Drawing Rights (see “Agreement…” in this issue).

Monthly Issue Update: July 31, 2009

Italian G8 serves primi piatti for 2010 G "?" in Canada
Key among the issues addressed at the recent G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, were food security, global warming, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and accountability. One of the key outcomes was a three year US$20 billion pledge made by the G8 countries and international institutions, including the World Bank, to boost agricultural production in developing countries. This is seen as one of the biggest aid shifts in decades, to an issue that has been neglected for far too long. But a history of broken promises still has NGOs and civil society on their guard - the G8 pledge at Gleneagles in 2005 of $50bn in development aid by 2010, with half to Africa, is still short by $15bn. G8 leaders also agreed, as developed countries, to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions by 80 per cent as of 2050, although the Canadian government indicated after the Summit that it would not be budging from its commitment to reduce emissions by 60 to 70 percent by 2050! On poverty, with many of the MDGs - such as reducing the number of women dying in childbirth - already way off track, the summit agreed to a proposal by Gordon Brown to provide an assessment at the 2010 Canadian G8 summit on how the MDGs could be attained in time. Finally, on accountability, the G8 leaders agreed to develop a comprehensive framework to monitor progress on G8 promises, strengthen the effectiveness of their actions, and publish a full report in time for 2010.

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