02 April 2009

Today’s crucial G20 talks have promised a huge rescue package for the global economy, but the promise must be kept, the international development charity ActionAid says.

Claire Melamed, Head of Policy at ActionAid said: ‘The G20 have agreed an unprecedented boost for poor countries. If they follow through on these promises, the money they have agreed today will go a long way towards helping these countries weather the effects of the economic storms that are daily battering the poorest people in the world.’
    
The charity also cautioned that the money must be linked to reforms of the IMF and the World Bank.

Claire Melamed continued: ‘The G20 have announced that they will accelerate reforms of the bank and the IMF. This is more important now than it has ever been, since the announcements today effectively put these institutions in charge of a huge global fiscal stimulus. These promises must be kept and poor countries must be given an equal say in the institutions that now hold the world’s chequebook.’

The OECD is today publishing a blacklist of tax havens, and the G20 have agreed to back this up with sanctions against havens that don’t cooperate with tax authorities. The OECD is to kick-start a process which looks at going further on tax haven reform and will report back this year.  

Claire Melamed said ‘What the G20 have agreed on tax could pave the way for a system that works for developing countries, but it all depends on what happens next. More of the same bilateral deals won’t be enough, what we need is a global multilateral approach."