What We’re Reading 4/27/09

Apr 27th, 2009 10:44 AM UTC
By Steve Wilson

AFP—World Bank, IMF say crisis becoming ‘human calamity’
The IMF and World Bank warned on Sunday that the global economic crisis is turning into a “human calamity” and called on members to speed up pledged aid and give even more to help the most vulnerable. At the end of spring meetings in Washington Sunday, the two institutions told their 185 member countries that the worst global slump in generations had already driven more than 50 million people into extreme poverty.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution—Plan to end global hunger needs support (op-ed)
Helene Gayle, ONE board member and President of CARE, pens an op-ed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution supporting President Obama’s call to double support for agricultural development in poor nations to more than $1 billion. Gayle stresses that grassroots support for legislation such as the Global Food Security Act will now be critical so these promises can be turned into actionable legislation and real results for the world’s poor.

Wall Street Journal—The IMF’s Gold Gambit (op-ed)
An op-ed in the Wall Street Journal argues that the IMF should not expand its reach into the global economy, and that its plan to sell a portion of its vast amount of gold reserves is not an attempt to help developing nations but really an attempt to set up a permanent endowment fund for the IMF. The writer argues that the U.S. should not replenish the coffers of this multilateral bureaucracy, and instead Congress should call for the IMF’s dismantlement and restitution of its assets.

Reuters—WTO’s Lamy says Doha round re-launch awaits U.S.
A renewed push to finish long-running world trade talks cannot begin until the United States is ready to engage, the head of the World Trade Organization said this weekend. Completing the Doha round of talks would help pull the global economy out of recession by unleashing new trade flows and “help restore confidence at this moment of crisis,” Pascal Lamy, the WTO’s director general, said. “I cannot restart a political process without the U.S. being ready,” Lamy said. The Obama administration’s position on the Doha round of trade talks “is emerging little by little” and is positive but the process has been slow, Lamy said.

-Steve Wilson

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