Senior finance and central bank officials meet at UN workshop on Asia-Pacific’s economic policy responses to financial crisis

Shrinking resources and other fiscal issues have left several countries in the region with little room to manoeuvre as they seek to jump start their economies amidst the crisis, according to Noeleen Heyzer, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

“We need to recognize that not all countries have the fiscal space to implement countercyclical measures at significant scales due to budget constraints,” Dr. Heyzer said in a message to the opening on Monday of the regional high-level workshop on Strengthening the response of the global financial crisis in Asia-Pacific: the role of monetary, fiscal and external debt policies.

The meeting, which runs through 30 July in Dhaka, Bangladesh, is organized by ESCAP’s Macroeconomic Policy and Development Division (MPDD) and hosted by the Bangladesh Bank. It brings together top officials from the Ministries of Finance and central banks of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam. Experts from international organizations also attending include those from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank and civil society organizations.

In her message, Dr. Heyzer pointed to the international community’s response to the crisis and noted that the Asia-Pacific region itself, with over $4 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, was provided with significant opportunities to work together in order to spur a speedy recovery and restore rapid economic growth.

“The huge scale of government spending in the pipeline in many countries offers an unprecedented opportunity to design policies that will bring about more inclusive and sustainable development,” she said.

As the regional arm of the United Nations, ESCAP can bring together groups of diverse countries to share experiences and coordinate their development activities for greater regional effect, she added, as exemplified by the high-level meeting in December 2008 in Bali, Indonesia on the food-fuel, financial crisis and climate change. It was the first time the different crises confronting the region were addressed in a comprehensive and integrated manner, and it led to a framework for action to be undertaken by Member States to deal with the crises’ effects.

The Honourable Mr. Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, Minister of Finance of Bangladesh, inaugurated the workshop. He urged poorer countries to join together in asking for a greater share of the fund established by developed nations to combat the global recession.

“We should start demanding the funds they have raised to enable the low-income nations to wade through these messy times,” he said. “Holding seminars and workshops won't do. We should start trying to wrench the slice due to us out of their clutch."

Read More..

Source:UNESCAP