Chancellor Merkel, Director-General Azevêdo and other agency heads discuss the challenges of multilateralism.
Around the working table in the Berlin Chancellery sat the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), David Lipton, the Secretary-General of the OECD Angel Gurría, the Secretary-General of the World Trade Organization Roberto Carvalho de Azevedo, the Secretary-General of the ILO Guy Ryder and the President of the World Bank David Malpass. In addition to displaying her undoubtedly incomparable international convening power, Merkel exchanged views on the situation and the measures to be taken, trying to make it clear that the weakness of the German economy is not due to internal causes and suggesting a conglomerate of international organizations that, together, guarantee a sufficient level of investment to cope with the economic slowdown.The global economy faces a slowdown»"The situation is not easy at all," said the German Chancellor.
Merkel believes that "it is still possible to avoid a disorderly exit of Great Britain from the European Union." "Nobody knows whether Brexit will be regulated," she admitted, "which I still believe is possible or whether we will face stronger frictions." In any case, The diagnosis of this informal meeting was serious.. The participants agreed that “the global economy is in a difficult position and that everywhere we are forecasting a slowdown in growth for all organisations.” Noting the specific declines in German forecasts, there was also consensus that “it is particularly worrying that certain investments have declined recently.”
IMF Acting Director David Lipton spoke of a “gradual and synchronized recession” taking place. Fiscal policy must be ready to “kick in and do something,” he told governments. The IMF president World Bank, David malpass, noted that there are “even lower growth rates than previously expected”. It also cited “growing uncertainties in the trade sector and Brexit” as reasons for the overall decline in activity, but stopped short of pointing the finger at “large volumes of frozen capital that are not being used for investment and are keeping the economy paralysed”.
The Secretary General of the OECD, Angel Gurria, was one of the most pessimistic. He welcomed the "group therapy" that the heads of international organizations were carrying out at this informal meeting and stressed that "things were getting worse because the problems have not been addressed multilaterally." He referred especially to trade and gave as an example that it is possible that by the end of the year there will no longer be a Dispute Settlement Body in the WTO. The German Chancellor insisted on this same point, reiterating that "multilateral consensus and mutual exchange are of great importance." "crucial importance" and expressing hope that "there will be a compromise" between the United States and China in the trade dispute, which is having a huge impact on the European economy.
According to the EU statistics agency Eurostat, eurozone gross domestic product expanded by only 0,2% in the second quarter, after a 0,4% expansion in the first three months of the year and confirming a gloomy outlook for the 19-nation bloc. Trade as a whole slowed during the quarter, while imports grew less than in the first quarter of the year and exports remained stable after a growth of 0,9% in the previous quarter. Overall, trade contributed negative 0,1 percentage points to the GDP figure.
The still president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, who was not attending the Berlin meeting, had earlier insisted on the need for governments to act now and pointed out the need for a common budget for the euro zone that is "significant", which he said was essential to stimulate the economy. "In the immediate future," he told the Financial Times, "we need a significant budgetary policy in the euro zone" based on a common "budgetary capacity" and not just on "rules that guide national policies."
Fuente: ABC
Aduana News is the first Argentine customs newspaper to launch its digital version. With 20 years of experience, its publications and initiatives aim to provide the most relevant knowledge on customs issues in order to contribute to safe trade in the region.
