Business | Markets
Protect developing world from price shocks - Bahrain
Developing and poor countries must be protected from the global financial crisis as inflationary pressures and the risk of lower export growth threaten hard-won social and economic gains, Bahrain's finance minister has said.
- By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
- Published: 23:50 October 14, 2008
Manama: Developing and poor countries must be protected from the global financial crisis as inflationary pressures and the risk of lower export growth threaten hard-won social and economic gains, Bahrain's finance minister has said.
"With all assessments indicating that this turbulence will prevail in the medium term, there is an urgent need to address the impact of this financial turbulence on the donors' ability to deliver on the commitments they made at the Monterrey International Conference on Financing for Development on the one hand, and the World Bank's core poverty reduction mandate, on the other," Shaikh Ahmad Bin Mohammad Al Khalifa said in his address to the 78th meeting of the World Bank Development Committee in Washington.
"The commitment made to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) would depend on not only increasing aid, but also ensuring enhanced aid effectiveness. Ensuring adequate, predictable and timely financial flows to protect the most vulnerable in many low-income countries is an urgent challenge. This is particularly vital for those countries that have limited ability to take on additional debt or that cannot use their scarce domestic resources to finance adjustment to the price shocks," Shaikh Ahmad said in his address on behalf of Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Leb-anon, Libya, Maldives, Oman, Qatar, Syria, the UAE and Yemen.
"Particularly during these financially turbulent times, donors need to reassure the international community that the aid allocations already made would be protected and reaffirm the commitments to scale up aid made at Monterrey and Gleneagles," he said.
Doha summit 'vital'
Shaikh Ahmad feels that pressing ahead with the Doha Round of trade negotiations has become of critical importance.
"The global community must work towards progressively removing measures that distort international trade and investment in agriculture, such as export restrictions and domestic price controls, if we are to meet the rapidly rising world demand for food products in the coming years," he said.
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