Global Recovery, the Financial Crisis & International Monetary System Reform, Lectures Delivered at AFDC by World Bank Officials
Jointly organized by the World Bank, Shanghai National Accounting Institute (SNAI) and the Asia-Pacific Finance & Development Center (AFDC), lectures on Charting a Global Recovery and Financial Crisis and International Monetary System Reform were delivered at AFDC in Shanghai on July 3. The speakers were Hans Timmer, Director of the Bank’s Development Prospects Group and Mansoor Dailami, Manager of International Finance in the Bank’s Development Economics Vice Presidency.
The event was chaired by Dr. Li Kouqing, Deputy Director-General of AFDC. In addition to more than 250 students, alumni and guests of SNAI at Shanghai, Chongqing Technology and Business University and China Development Bank joined in the event through Global Development Learning Network
Mr. Timmer delivered a lecture on Charting a Global Recovery. He said that the financial crisis was sudden, global and unprecedented. It has taken a heavy toll on private capital flows to developing countries and slowed the global GDP growth. Mr Timmer believed that since the fourth quarter last year, the stimulus package adopted by governments has encouraged global recovery, but he predicts slow growth for the world economy in the coming few years. Mr. Timmer pointed out that policy coordination among different economies and a stabilized global financial market are needed to prevent new crises and ensure balanced global growth.
In the lecture on Financial Crisis and the International Monetary System Reform, Mr. Dailami pointed out that though the financial crisis disclosed the shortcomings of the Bretton Woods system which was established after World War II, the crisis has offered an opportunity to correct those shortcomings. He said the role of the developing countries was neither recognized by the Bretton Woods system, nor in the international financial system. Special Drawing Right, established in 1969, accounts for only a small part of the global foreign reserves. Though the importance of the euro as an international reserve currency is increasing, the US dollar still dominates the world’s official foreign reserves. Finally Mr. Dailami offered suggestions with regard to growth in China. He said an increased level of employment is fundamental to the growth of China; to ensure balanced economic growth, China needs to expand domestic demand; China needs to keep appropriate foreign reserves and to globalize Chinese currency.
The lectures delivered by Mr. Timmer and Mr. Dailami as co-authors of Global Development Finance 2009, invited active response from the audience. After the lectures, they accepted interviews from China Daily, Shanghai Securities News among other media.
