São Paulo – The secretary general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad), Supachai Panitchpakdi, said, in a report disclosed by the organisation on Tuesday (7), that the global economy needs to break away from the global doctrine that has guided it over the last thirty years and adopt a system of “development-centred globalisation”. This will be the theme of the 13th Unctad, to take place in Doha, Qatar, from April 21st to 26th.
According to him, the global economy has been much guided by the interests of the financial system and, even in periods of great growth, many are excluded from benefits of the model. “Income inequality has been rising and financial imbalances have been accumulating,” he said. This doctrine, which includes deregulation of markets and greater and greater liberation of capital flows, has moulded international economic integration.
“Financial markets and institutions have become the masters rather than the servants of the real economy, distorting trade and investment, heightening levels of inequality and poising a systemic threat to economic stability,” said the secretary-general.
Panitchpakdi added that financial resources should be turned to productive areas, targeting economic diversification, job generation, food and energy safety and the climate. “Finance needs to get back to the business of providing security for people’s savings and mobilizing resources for productive investment,” he pointed out.
He defends greater state participation and international coordination in defining the routes of the economy. “Surveillance and regulation will need to be strengthened at all levels,” he pointed out. “Reforming the financial system is the place to begin. Even before the crisis, it was clear that stable and inclusive development was incompatible with speculative market behaviour,” he added.
The secretary general adds that, to put the global economy back on track, a “global new deal” will be necessary, in reference to the program established by US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the depression that followed the 1929 crisis. To him, palliative measures are not going to guarantee stability.
To Panitchpakdi, the 13th Unctad represents an opportunity for the international community to “discuss these challenges in a frank, open and constructive manner”.
*Translated by Mark Ament
