G8 development ministers agree on aid for developing nations

ROME, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Development ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) agreed Friday on a series of commitments to increase efficiency in financial aid allocation to developing countries, particularly Africa, in an attempt to tackle the impact of the economic crisis.

No concrete financial commitment to developing countries was made. The ministers simply reiterated what had previously been decided at London's G20 meeting in April and at Gleneagles summit in 2005 to reverse the negative economic impact and increase sustainable development in emerging countries.

According to the final communique, the development ministers stressed the need for "a strong, coherent and coordinated response to the economic crisis. The global economic slowdown, adding on the negative effects of energy and food crises, has severely disrupted economic growth worldwide," especially in developing countries.

"We must therefore act in a coordinated manner to prevent the economic crisis from turning into a deeper social crisis with all its possible consequences in terms of political instability and conflicts," the ministers said in the final document.

At the two-day meeting, the ministers agreed to increase "social protection mechanisms and safety nets to address vulnerable population groups who are hardest hit by the crisis" through a more efficient development strategy.

The meeting was attended by ministers from Italy, the current G8 presidency holder, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Russia and the United States, as well as ministers from developing countries, namely China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico and Egypt, and representatives from international organizations.

Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

Development opportunities, hot topic at WEF on Africa

Marilou Jane (L2), sector director of the Africa Finance and Private Sector Development of World Bank, talks about the Africa Competitiveness Report 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa, June 10, 2009. The Africa Competitiveness Report 2009 released on Wednesday highlighted that financial development and trade were crucial to making Africa more competitive and riding out current crisis. (Xinhua/Xu Suhui)
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By Song Ying and Li Jianmin

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Co-chairs of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa stressed on Wednesday the development opportunities of the continent on the opening plenary of the platform.

The meeting came as the global economic meltdown has sucked the growth strength of many African nations, making flagging the traditional economic drivers like foreign investment, demand for raw material and oversea remittance.

A journalist reads the Africa Competitiveness Report 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa, June 10, 2009. The Africa Competitiveness Report 2009 released on Wednesday highlighted that financial development and trade were crucial to making Africa more competitive and riding out current crisis. (Xinhua/Xu Suhui)
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At the plenary under the theme "Africa and the New Global Economy", the five co-chairs believed that African countries should use the crisis which has devastating effects on the world's major economies, as an opportunity to bring about new development in the continent.

Newly-elected South African President Jacob Zuma, also the host of the forum, said the continuation of the current crisis will mean increased starvation, poverty and child mortality."

However, he expressed belief that Africa can have its own way to deal with the crisis just like other parts of the world.

"We view the economic downturn as providing both challenges and opportunities for the continent and the developing world in general," said Zuma.

World Bank Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the impacts of the crisis on Africa are not abstract.

She argued that the key issue is how to focus on the opportunity brought by the crisis to position Africa for long-term development.

Okonjo-Iweala also stressed the importance of having the voice of African countries on the table.

Jiang Jianqing, chairman of the board of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, told the participants at the opening plenary that the global crisis poses a challenge to African economy as the price of raw material, outside demand and foreign investment all drop.

"Africa will have more opportunities in the long run as the global economy will be in a more balanced pattern after the crisis. The relations between development and fairness will be better," said Jiang.

Another co-chair, Soud Ba'alawy, executive chairman of Dubai Group of the United Arab Emirates, said that there is a misconception that the investment to Africa will have high risks. People will begin to wonder which one has greater risk after the crisis started in the West.

The World Economic Forum on Africa has attracted over 800 participants from 50 countries. Five African leaders have taken part in the meetings. They are Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga, Lesotho's Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosislili, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, South African President Zuma and Zambian President Rupiah Bwezani Banda.

Participants of the forum will try to seek practical solutions to foster better business practices and greater investment across the continent.

The closing plenary session of the platform scheduled for Friday afternoon will highlight the outcomes of the meeting and map out the future engagement of main stakeholders.

IMF says Africa needs $2.5 bln bailout from economic meltdown

LAGOS, June 9 (Xinhua) --The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted that the next year may witness dramatic increase in credit borrowings by African countries to the tune of 2.5 billion U.S. dollars as a result of biting effects of global economic meltdown, the Lagos based This Day newspaper reported Tuesday.

The IMF Country Chief and Resident Representative to Nigeria, David Nellor, made the disclosure while on a courtesy visit to the Minister of Labor and Productivity, Adetokunbo Kayode, in Abuja on Monday.

He singled out Nigeria as one country that has so far escaped from the immediate impact of the world financial crisis due to the accrued benefits from the fiscal reforms.

Nellor particularly pointed to the oil savings from excess crude oil account as well as the banking reforms as major contributory factors in the measure of financial stability being enjoyed by Nigeria.

"The crisis is clearly a big issue globally and each country has its own challenges and for several countries in Africa, they need finance," he said.

"If they don't have that finance, it means they will grow more slowly, so we anticipate this year a lot of borrowing will take place at concessional interest rates," he added.

He said the interest rate on IMF money borrowing to some countries is half percent.

"That is a concessional rate and we anticipate an increase this year of maybe 2 billion dollars or 2.5 billion dollars of additional borrowing from Africa to help countries tied all over during this crisis period," Nellor added.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Nigerian labor minister said Nigeria' s economic problem is not caused by the global economic crisis, but is principally based on the fact that there are inherent structural problems within the country's economy.

Kayode said what Nigeria requires from IMF at the moment is very strong beneficial support.

According to him, the World Bank did a report on the last 10 years of economic activities in Nigeria and the conclusion is that even though Nigeria has an across-the-board economic growth of between 7 and 8 percent, there is no commensurate growth in the number of the employment created.

He said his ministry had taken up the issue of rising unemployment rates and had adopted a number of policy measures aimed at redressing the situation.

"I believe IMF and all other international partners must assist us to see how we can tackle the issue of unemployment," he added.

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EU plays down need for further stimulus amid shrink forecasts

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BEIJING, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Eurozone finance chiefs on Monday recommended against additional stimulus measures in spite of forecast economic contraction in the region and in Latin America.

"All ministers in the Eurogroup, including the European Central Bank, agree that the fiscal efforts launched by the Eurozone countries should be sufficient for the time being," said Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg prime minister and the chairman of the Eurogroup of Eurozone finance ministers.

Juncker's view was echoed by Austrian Finance Minister Josef Proell at a regular monthly meeting of the Eurogroup.

"We have a lot in the pipeline...Many elements of the stimulus packages, many of our tax reductions will only start to have an effect in the coming weeks and months," Proell said.

The European Commission forecast earlier on Monday that the Eurozone economy will contract by 4 percent this year and by a further 0.1 percent next year, plunging into the deepest and most widespread recession since the Second World War.

It was a sharp revise-down from a January estimate, which forecast a contraction of 1.8 percent for the EU and 1.9 percent for the euro zone this year before positive growth for both areas next year.

Meanwhile, economy of Central and South America, which is busying combating the A/H1N1 influenza, will shrink over 0.3 percent in 2009, said the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLA).

Mexico, the center of the epidemic, will be hardest hit with impacts on its tourism, transportation and food industries as the virus continues to spread. The country is to see a deep reduction of 2 percent in its economy this year, said ECLA.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Monday said it had received reports of 1,003 confirmed cases of A/H1N1 influenza from 20 countries, warning of "many surprise" changes in its evolvement.

The initial situation can change "in many ways, with many, many surprises," said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan.

"Historically, influenza pandemic has encircled the world in two, sometimes three waves," she said, citing the deadliest 1918 pandemic.

Major epidemic outbreaks usually mean dwindling business opportunities and reluctant trade. In 2008, a flu pandemic cost 3 trillion U.S. dollars and caused a nearly five-percent drop in world gross domestic product, according to the World Bank.

Observers have feared the flu could reverse initial gains in the fight against the economic recession, thus delaying the process toward an end of its grips on the world economy.

Eurogroup chief warns of social crisis
with unemployment set to jump

BRUSSELS, May 4 (Xinhua) -- European countries are
heading into a "social crisis" as unemployment is set to jump amid the financial
and economic crisis, the chairman of the Eurogroup of finance ministers warned
on Monday.

"We are in the heart of an economic and financial
crisis and we are heading towards a social crisis," Jean-Claude Juncker, who is
also the Luxembourg Prime Minister, told reporters after chairing a regular
monthly meeting with Eurozone finance ministers. Full story

Science innovations helps dryland farmers deal with food, financial crisis

by Wu Qiang, Karuna Madan

NEW DELHI, May 9 (Xinhua) -- The global food crisis, marked by soaring food price last year, and the current economic meltdown, have inflicted hardships to poor farmers of the semi-arid tropics of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, including India.

In such a scenario, only crop research and innovation can empower these farmers to cope with the crisis, leading researchers feel, said a international farm expert on Saturday.

Dr. William Dar, Director General of International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), told Xinhua in an interview that the global financial crisis coming closely on the heels of the global food crisis has hit dryland farmers hard.

"These poor dryland farmers have very little margin for risks, and when two shocks come one behind the other, their ability to recover is quite diminished. Although food prices have fallen from their peaks in early 2008, they are still higher than what the prices were before they soared in 2007. This can affect poor dryland farmers, who are usually net food buyers," he said.

ICRISAT, which is based in Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh in central India, is a science-based international organization which conducts research on sorghum, pearl millet, chickpea, pigeon pea and groundnut that support the livelihood of the poor in the semi-arid tropics.

"Due to the financial crisis, there is also a shortfall in credit available to farmers and prices of inputs are also high. This could have an adverse impact on poor farmers, both in terms of reduced investments in agriculture and lesser food for their families," he added.

Dar lamented that the poor farmers of the drylands had no control over global developments.

"At most of the times they do not understand the cause and effect of these changes," he said. "But when scientific innovations help them overcome their day-to-day problems, their resilience to global challenges gets strengthened."

To hasten the speed of crop improvement and overcome limitations inherent to conventional crop breeding, ICRISAT has harnessed crop biotechnology, said Dar.

Using molecular marker assisted selection and breeding, ICRISAT developed a pearl millet hybrid -- HHB 67 Improved -- that is resistant to downy mildew disease, he said.

Using the same technology, ICRISAT scientists in Nairobi identified and transferred genes that confer Striga resistance to sorghum. Striga is among the deadliest weeds in Africa.

In addition to contributing to the national food basket, agriculture in the semi-arid regions of developing countries supports the livelihoods of a large segment of these countries' population.

"In India, for instance, two-thirds of cultivated lands are semi-arid. Hence, an adverse impact on dryland farming can result in decreased livelihood options for a substantial percentage of the population," Dar said.

Dar said scientific innovations can strengthen farmers to deal with situations such as this.

"Even when events happen that are far beyond the control of the dryland farmer, scientific and research-based intervention can give him the resistance to tide over the crisis with less damage," he said.

Bernanke vows to strengthen U.S. financial regulatory system

Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

WASHINGTON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Thursday that regulators must learn lessons of the current crisis and strengthen oversight of the U.S. financial system.

"A principal lesson of the crisis is that an approach to supervision that focuses narrowly on individual institutions can miss broader problems that are building up in the system," Bernanke said in remarks delivered via satellite to a Fed conference in Chicago.

"Increasing the effectiveness of supervision must be a top priority," said the Fed chief. "It is imperative that we apply the lessons of this experience to strengthen our regulatory system, both at the level of its overall architecture and in its daily execution."

He noted that although reform of the current system is necessary, much can be done within the current framework.

"The Federal Reserve has engaged in extensive introspection and review of the lessons of the crisis and is working diligently to implement what has been learned," he said.

Bernanke vows to strengthen U.S. financial regulatory system

Special
Report: Global Financial Crisis

WASHINGTON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke
said on Thursday that regulators must learn lessons of the current crisis and
strengthen oversight of the U.S. financial system.

"A principal lesson of the crisis is that an approach to supervision that
focuses narrowly on individual institutions can miss broader problems that are
building up in the system," Bernanke said in remarks delivered via satellite to
a Fed conference in Chicago.

"Increasing the effectiveness of supervision must be a top priority," said
the Fed chief. "It is imperative that we apply the lessons of this experience to
strengthen our regulatory system, both at the level of its overall architecture
and in its daily execution."

He noted that although reform of the current system is necessary, much can
be done within the current framework.

"The Federal Reserve has engaged in extensive introspection and review of
the lessons of the crisis and is working diligently to implement what has been
learned," he said.

Eurogroup chief warns of social crisis over unemployment

Special
Report: Global Financial Crisis

BRUSSELS, May 4 (Xinhua) -- European countries are
heading into a "social crisis" as unemployment is set to jump amid the financial
and economic crisis, the chairman of the Eurogroup of finance ministers warned
on Monday.

"We are in the heart of an economic and financial
crisis and we are heading towards a social crisis," Jean-Claude Juncker, who is
also the Luxembourg Prime Minister, told reporters after chairing a regular
monthly meeting with Eurozone finance ministers.

Juncker said he was very concerned about the sharp
rise of unemployment in Europe as forecast by the European Commission.

The commission said in its latest estimate earlier on
Monday that European labor markets have been cooling as a result of the deepest
and most widespread recession since the Second World War.

Employment is expected to contract by about 2.5
percent in both the European Union (EU) and the Eurozone this year and by a
further 1.5 percent in 2010, resulting in about 8.5 million job losses for the
two years, in contrast to the net job creation of 9.5 million from 2006 to 2008.

Unemployment is forecast to reach 10.9 percent in the
EU in 2010 and 11.5 percent in the Eurozone.

Juncker urged European employers not to lay off
workers prematurely and turn to alternative choices such as part-time employment
and shorter working time as buffer measures.

"I urge employers not to lay off people prematurely.
I urge them to show social responsibility," he said.

Juncker's warning came days before a planned EU
summit in Prague, the Czech Republic, which is dedicated to employment.

The Czech EU presidency had originally hoped to
invite all the heads of state and government of 27 member states to the
employment summit, but it was later downgraded to a mini one.

"My feeling is that many politicians underestimate
the extent of this phenomenon," Juncker said.

ADB Vice-President: regional co-op to help Asia first recover from crisis

Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

by Xinhua Writers Zhou Erjie, Wang Jingzhong

BALI, Indonesia, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Various regional
cooperative mechanisms, if implemented effectively, could help lift Asia first
out of the global crisis, said Zhao Xiaoyu, Vice-President of Asian Development
Bank (ADB) in an interview with Xinhua Sunday.

"Asian countries themselves have a big enough market
to generate the demand now developed countries fail to," said Zhao, "but this
requires countries to make concerted efforts under regional cooperative
platform."

Within ADB are three main existing mechanisms, namely
Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Program, Central Asian Regional Economic
Cooperation Unit (CAREC) and South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC)
initiative.

"My analysis is that once the pan-Asian cooperation
is put on track and demand is boosted, there will be very positive factors to
tackle the crisis and this is where the ADB is best at," Li said.

But the Vice-President had his concerns. "Many
governments have announced their stimulus packages, but do they have the
capacity to deliver them? And are there so many readily available projects to
spend on?" Zhao asked.

"It's all about implementation and supervision after
the plans are announced," he said.

Besides, Zhao believed trade financing to be another
critical key for the region to recover from the crisis, as the ongoing crisis
has prompted banks to reduce lending to emerging markets and cut credit lines to
both importers and exporters.

"It's not that they don't have the money, it's that
they do not have the confidence to lend it," he said.

Knowing where the rub is, the ADB has been
endeavoring to ensure trade financing through its Trade Finance Facilitation
Program (TFFP), a strong move in curing trade stagnancy of the region,
particularly in times of crisis.

The TFFP, which began operations in 2004, had been
providing finance and guarantees through international and local banks to boost
trade in developing nations.

The ADB has expanded the TFFP from 150 million U.S.
dollars to one billion. It has also increased the maximum maturity of loans
permitted under the TFFP to three years from two years. After the fund increase,
the program is predicted to generate up to 15 billion U.S. dollars in trade
financing by 2013.

"The last point," Zhao said. "is that there should be
no protectionism of any form. Trade barriers are really dangerous constrains to
Asia's recovery."

ADB President: bond market important solution to Asia's problems

Special
Report: Global Financial Crisis

BALI, Indonesia, May 3 (Xinhua)
-- Haruhiko Kuroda, President of Asian Development Bank (ADB), on Sunday called
for the development of Asia's bond market to mitigate the impact of the economic
crisis.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) President
Haruhiko Kuroda (R) speaks at a governor's seminar during the ADB annual
meeting in Bali, Indonesia, May 3, 2009. Haruhiko Kuroda calls for the
development of Asia's bond market to mitigate the impact of the economic
crisis. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)
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"Positive progress in bond market could be a very
important solution to Asia's problems faced by so many countries," Kuroda said
at the ADB annual meeting.

"By developing bond market,
Asia's large savings could be integrated into more productive investment, including
infrastructure investment in Asia, may help reduce imbalance, one of the problems
of the crisis," he said.

Indonesia Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati (L4) speaks at
a governor's seminar during the ADB annual meeting in Bali, Indonesia, May
3, 2009. President of Asian Development Bank (ADB) Haruhiko Kuroda calls for
the development of Asia's bond market to mitigate the impact of the
economic crisis.(Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)
Photo Gallery

In a previous interview with Xinhua, the President
said at the regional level, ADB is working with ASEAN+3 to accelerate the
establishment of a credit guarantee facility in local currency bond markets to
make it easier for private companies to meet their local currency funding needs.

"This facility could provide credit guarantees for
bonds issued by domestic commercial banks to revitalize capital inflows and
allow banks to continue lending in the crisis," he said.

Nigeria urges agencies to roll out incentives to beat global financial crunch

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

LAGOS, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua has directed
relevant agencies of the federal government to immediately work out palliative
and incentive packages to cushion the impact of the global economic crisis on
Nigeria's citizens and businesses, according to the Punch newspaper on Thursday.

The president, who is currently on vacation, gave the directive following
the recommendation of the Presidential Steering Committee on the global economic
crisis in the country.

The committee held a closed-door meeting at the State House on Tuesday,
after which the President was briefed on the outcome.

Yar'Adua is the chairman of the committee, but was absent due to his
vacation.

The Presidential Steering Committee had recommended the reduction of the
pump price of petrol from 70 naira to 65 naira.

Olusegun Adeniyi, Special Adviser to the President on Communications, who
disclosed the outcome of the meeting, said the committee proposed a number of
palliative measures for the short, medium and long terms towards mitigating the
effects of the global crisis on the country.

He explained that immediately after the briefing, the president directed
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Ministry of Finance to liaise with
other agencies and do more work on some of the short-term palliative measures
that are proposed in order to ensure their quick implementation.

Adeniyi pointed out that salary increment was not on the cards due to the
current falling crude oil price in the international market, but assured that
the proposed measures would boost the purchasing power of the masses and put
smiles on the faces of Nigerians soon.

"What is being worked out is a package of incentives that will ginger
production, increase the purchasing power of the ordinary man on the street and
help generate employment opportunities," he added.

World Bank official warns on human crisis in Africa

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

LAGOS, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank's Chief Economist on Africa Shanta Devarajan has warned that the global financial crisis would pose a greater danger of human crisis for Africa.

Devarajan gave the warning on Sunday in a statement posted on the World Bank's website, saying that since Africa has already caught the flu of the global financial crisis, it will likely experience a deceleration.

"Africa was spared the first-round effects of banking failures, it is already facing the second-round impacts of declining capital flows, remittances, stagnating foreign aid, falling commodity prices and export revenues," he was quoted saying by the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday.

He said his colleague at the World Bank, Justin Lin, had earlier warned against allowing the global financial crisis to become a human crisis.

"Child mortality, for instance, rises during decelerations, but hardly falls during acceleration and primary school completion rates are substantially lower in countries experiencing growth decelerations, as is life expectancy," he added.

Devarajan said the official development assistance either per capita or as a share of GDP is lower during decelerations, noting that it is pro-cyclical.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Chukwuma Soludo, admitted last week that Nigeria is vulnerable to the financial crisis.

Economic experts in the country have listed the meltdown in the capital market, gradual depletion of the foreign reserve and the falling crude oil prices as effects of the global financial crisis.

IMF deputy chief sees growth return by year end

Special Report:Global Financial
Crisis

DAVOS, SWITZERLAND, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The world
economy could return to growth by the end of this year after being hit hard by
the financial crisis, a senior official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
said Saturday.

"We believe that with the adequate policy response
... the world economy can return to growth by the end of this year and to trend
growth in 2010," John Lipsky, first deputy managing director of IMF told
delegates at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

He said the IMF will need at least another 500
billion U.S. dollars to expand its capital basis as more countries may rely on
its support to tide over the economic turmoil.

Speaking at the same panel discussion, Bank of Canada
Governor Mark Carney said he was more optimistic than a IMF forecast for next
year, based on reason that the stimulus programs installed by various
governments may take effect.

The latest IMF forecast on Wednesday said the world
economic growth is projected to plummet to 0.5 percent in 2009, the lowest in 60
years, before rebounding to 3.0 percent in 2010.

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde warned that
the world economic crisis could provoke "social unrest."

"Social unrest and protectionism are the two major
risks of the world economic crisis," she said, adding that the risks were
increased by "having to engage taxpayers' money and by hampered growth."

She urged world governments to take decisive actions
before the leaders of the Group of 20 nations (G20) are due to meet in London in
April, a follow-up to their first summit on the financial crisis in Washington
last November.

"We need to give an extremely strong signal as early
as April 2 at the G20 meeting in London to restore confidence in the system,"
she said.

Meanwhile, Carney warned that banks have so far
underestimated the commitments made by governments to calm down the financial
markets, making the bailout efforts less effective.

"They are heavily, too heavily discounting the very
clear commitment from the G7 that no systemically important institution will be
allowed to fail. That is the first line of the Oct. 8 communique which was
literally typed in by the G7 finance ministers themselves," he said, "The power
of that and the degree of commitment to that has been underestimated."

Davos forum to address financial crisis, other global challenges

WEF Executive Chairman and founder Klaus
Schwab addresses a news conference in Cologny, near Geneva, January 21,
2009. This year's World Economic Forum Annual Meeting is called "Shaping
the Post-Crisis World" and it will be held from January 28 to February 1,
2009 in the Swiss alpine resort of Davos. (Xinhua/Reuters
Photo)
Photo
Gallery

GENEVA, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- The World Economic Forum
(WEF) will open its annual meeting in Davos next week with an aim to address a
series of global challenges, particularly the financial and economic crisis, the
organization said on Wednesday.

As well as looking at the immediate crisis and ways
to stabilize and relaunch the global economy, the meeting program also pinpoints
a number of interrelated global risks including climate change, food and water
security, it said in a statement.

The meeting will also consider the institutions that
the world needs to cooperate and confront global challenges and will look to
improve the ethnical value base for business as a constructive social actor, it
added.

According to the Geneva-based non-profit foundation,
the overarching theme of the 2009 annual meeting, which will take place from
Jan. 28 to Feb. 1 in the Swiss skiing resort, is "Shaping the Post-Crisis
World."

It will attract more than 2,500 participants from 96
countries, including a record 43 heads of state or government.

Among the world leaders taking part in the meeting,
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will
address participants on the opening day.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime
Minister Gordon Brown and Premier Taro Aso of Japan will also address sessions
of the meeting.

Other public figures include 17 ministers of finance,
19 central bankers, 22 trade ministers, 16 ministers of foreign affairs, 15
ministers of environment and energy, nine EU commissioners and the heads of 30
international organizations.

Business leaders from all sectors and from all
regions will also be well represented at the meeting.

"The Annual Meeting 2009 is one of the most crucial
in the near 40 year history of the World Economic Forum," said Klaus Schwab,
founder and executive chairman of the organization.

"The extraordinary participation ...demonstrates that
our annual meeting will be the place where key actors can address both a crisis
of unprecedented scope and, at the same time, the sort of world we collectively
want to see emerging once the crisis is over," Schwab told a media
briefing.

China: use IMF bonds cash to fight crisis

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

BEIJING, April 27 -- Any money raised by the sale of
bonds to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should be used to help developing
countries, China said.

The BRIC nations, made up of Brazil, Russia, India
and China, have called on the IMF to issue the debt instrument as a temporary
measure to increase its resources.

World Bank (WB) President Robert
Zoellick (L) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director
Dominique Strauss-Kahn attend the semi-annual session of the Joint
Development Committee of the World Bank and the International Monetary
Fund, in Washington, the U.S., on April 26, 2009. The session was convened
as the spring session of the two institutions entered its second day.
(Xinhua/Zhang Yan)
Photo
Gallery

The four countries are interested in buying the
bonds, the institution's managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said at the
IMF spring meeting on Saturday.

"Now we're discussing with different creditors the
way to implement it and the amount that we put in it," he said.

During the G20 summit, British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown said China was willing to pledge up to 40 billion U.S. dollars to the IMF.

While *** no mention of China's promise, Central
Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said the IMF should use its increased resources to
support developing countries in their effort to cope with the financial crisis
and maintain economic development.

He added that developed countries should assume the
main responsibility for stabilizing the financial markets and reigniting
economic growth.

China has already played an active role in
stabilizing global finance and economic growth, Zhou said. Since last year,
China has signed bilateral agreements on currency swaps worth 650 billion yuan
(95 billion U.S. dollars) with South Korea, Malaysia, Belarus, Indonesia and
Argentina as well as China's Hong Kong.

China will continue its pro-active fiscal policy and
its moderately loose monetary policy to maintain momentum in the country's
stable, relatively fast growth, Zhou said.

Brazil's Finance Minister Guido Mantega was quoted by
Dow Jones as saying that the bond should have a relatively short maturity of
around one year, should yield more than U.S. Treasury notes, should qualify as
government reserves and should be tradable on the secondary market.

Mantega said emerging markets that need the money
most should benefit from the new securities the IMF is considering issuing.

Also on Saturday, Zhou stressed the IMF should push
for reforms of special drawing rights - an international reserve asset created
by the IMF to supplement reserves of member countries.

The World Bank and IMF spring conference began on
Friday with a meeting of the Group of 7 wealthy nations - the U.S., Japan,
Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada - and was followed with a dinner
meeting of the Group of 20 countries, which include the seven wealthy nations
plus the major emerging markets such as China, Russia and Brazil. The conference
ended yesterday.

(Source: China Daily)

Crisis dampens zeal to go global

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

BEIJING, April 23 -- The world financial crisis has severely dampened
Chinese companies' enthusiasm for investing overseas, although many of them said
they still want to go global, results of a survey showed Wednesday.

About 85 percent of respondents said their overseas business has been
hampered by the crisis, and as a result, merely 7 percent said they would like
to add to their outflows this year.

However, when asked whether they will expand overseas investment in the
next two years, 40 percent answered yes.

The report, released by the China Council for the Promotion of
International Trade (CCPIT) and the third of its kind, is based on a four-month
survey of 1,100 companies in sectors ranging from textiles, hi-tech and
construction to resources.

Companies that are waiting for overseas opportunities see investment as
part of a long-term strategy to improve profit margins and build their brands on
the international stage, according to the report.

The findings do not appear to tally with recent high-profile merger and
acquisition (MA) activity involving Chinese enterprises, which many experts
believe heralded a fresh burst of overseas investment.

In January and February, more than 20 overseas MA deals worth 20
billion U.S. dollars were reportedly inked by Chinese companies, involving many
big players.

In February alone, Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Nonfemet, China's fifth
largest zinc producer by output, acquired 50.1 percent of Perilya, an Australian
zinc and lead mining company. In the same month, Chinalco announced plans to
inject 19.5 billion U.S. dollars into Rio Tinto, one of the largest mining
corporations worldwide.

But Su Chang, macro-economic analyst at China Economic Business Monitor,
told China Daily that such cases do not reflect the whole picture. "They are
limited to resource-oriented sectors," he said.

According to the report, more than half the companies establish an overseas
presence through sales offices, compared with only 8 percent through MAs,
and "the general situation will not change in three to five years".

Su forecast that investment will pick up only after the global economy
takes a turn for the better in the last quarter of this year.

A recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers agreed, saying Chinese companies'
overseas investment will rebound when the global economy comes out of recession.

Besides the dire economic situation, the fear of trade protectionism and
limited funding channels are also obstacles.

"There has been a slowdown in growth of overseas investment because the
biggest concerns are a deteriorated investment environment and difficulty in
fund-raising," Sun Yanbin, vice-chairman of CCPIT Hubei branch, told China
Daily.

The CCPIT report also shows the major challenges Chinese companies
encounter are worries about quality and safety of products.

This year, the government has rolled out policies to stimulate overseas
investment but the companies surveyed reflected only a low level of satisfaction
with credit insurance and foreign exchange facilities.

"We are trying to simplify the procedures and revise credit insurance
rules," said Sun Lujun, deputy director of the State Administration of Foreign
Exchange.

From 2002 to 2007, overseas investment grew 60 percent annually. By 2008,
the cumulative investment was worth 130 billion U.S. dollars with non-financial
overseas investment surging 64 percent to 40.6 billion U.S. dollars that year.

(Source: China Daily)

Spain's mortgage foreclosure doubles in 2008 due to economic crisis

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

MADRID, April 13 (Xinhua) - The number of mortgage foreclosure in Spain doubled in 2008 in comparison with 2007 because of the global economic crisis, local press reported on Monday.

The number of foreclosure was 58,686 in 2008, compared with 25,943 in 2007, and the regions of Andalusia and Cataluna witnessed the largest numbers of foreclosure, according to a report issued by the General Council of the Judicial Power (CGPJ).

The economic crisis and high unemployment rate have made it impossible for debtors to fulfill their loan obligations, which has pushed up the foreclosure, said the report.

The report predicted a 43.5 percent growth in the number of foreclosure for 2009.

UN gears for June economic crisis session

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

by William M. Reilly

UNITED NATIONS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday said preparations for the June summit to assess the impact of the global economic crisis on developing countries was going ahead despite attempts by certain unnamed nations to lower the scope and profile of the sessions.

The financial crisis, "worse than the Great Depression" of 1929"is affecting the entire world and was brought about mainly as a result of social irresponsibility, greed -- insatiable greed ¨C on the part of a few countries" while "the vast majority that had nothing to do with that were paying the heaviest price," said the former Nicaraguan foreign minister.

While not naming the countries in both cases, d'Escoto said they were the usual countries attempting to "control" the United Nations.

The General Assembly agreed last week to convene a high-level conference on the impact of the crisis on development, scheduled to be held from June 1 to 3.

D'Escoto told reporters at UN World Headquarters in New York that the conclave "will be most important in the history of the United Nations."

Only on Tuesday the UN Secretariat had finished translating modalities on the three days of meetings and sent them to member states, so the GA president begged off on naming the number or names of heads of state who will be participating in the conclave.

The enabling GA resolution calls on member states to agree on a concise outcome document based on a draft to be prepared by d'Escoto through an open, transparent and inclusive process led by UN member states.

D'Escoto called the summit "the G192," to reflect the total number of UN member states, as opposed to the recent G20 meeting of 20 governments in London.

The GA president said, "It should be clear this is not one meeting. This is the beginning of a process that will take longer, take many more meetings, but unlike other meetings that say we will follow up in six years, and so on, we can not afford that luxury. This is an emergency situation. The world will be looking at us."

The first meeting will deal with topics requiring immediate action while other discussions will involve "laying foundations for the economic and financial architecture" of the future, he said.

The future architecture is expected to include consideration of a move away from the U.S. dollar as the currency of choice for international reserves.

"Many many countries trusted the dollar because they (the United States and allies) preached economic restructuring and fiscal responsibility but now we find out they had the least of that, our dear host country (the United States)," d'Escoto said, adding that "it allowed the United States to go ahead and print" money.

"We have to make sure we have a more stable world economy," he said. "That was one of the fundamental purposes when the United Nations was founded."

The GA president pointed out that while the UN charter seeks the end of the scourge of war it also seeks guaranteed peace and security by strengthening the economy of the world.

"We must, all of us, I believe, collectively assume responsibility," he said. "I don't want to waste time finger pointing. We are all, in one degree or another, responsible and we must all work together in good faith to try to restructure."

Ambassador Jorge Valero of Venezuela, who spoke after the General Assembly adopted the resolution enabling the upcoming meeting, said the meeting was first proposed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and later supported by the Group of 77 and China, a caucus of about 130 developing countries. Valero made the proposal at the Doha Conference on Financing for Development in November 2008.

It suggested the international community develop regional monetary reserves based on a system of regional special drawing rights. Another suggestion was that it eliminate the dollar reserve, which he said would prevent the United States "Empire" from "financing its deficits through the issuance of new dollar bills."

D'Escoto said the facilitators for the June meeting, ambassadors Camillo Gonsalves of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Frank Majoor of the Netherlands, were allowing member states to lead the sessions to a mutually agreed outcome.

D'Escoto, a Roman Catholic priest, said he was about to begin a series of visits to Latin America, Asia and Europe to further promote the meeting.

"I am very happy and praying very hard for the success of this meeting," he said. "The fundamental purpose of my trip will be to explain how it is going and how important it is to participate because there is no exclusion" of countries from the sessions.