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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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Obama sees a disaster averted
Source: Agencies |
July 11, 2009, Saturday
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Print Edition
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LASTING worldwide recovery "is still a ways off," US President Barack Obama declared yesterday, but he also said at the conclusion of a global summit that a disastrous economic collapse apparently has been averted.
Obama said world leaders had taken significant measures to address economic, environmental and global security issues.
"Reckless actions by a few have fueled a recession that spans the globe," Obama said of the meltdown that began in the United States with a tumble in housing prices and drastic slowing of business lending. The downturn now threatens superpowers and emerging nations alike.
He urged national leaders to unite behind a global recovery plan that includes stricter financial regulations and sustained stimulus spending.
"The only way forward is through shared and persistent effort to combat threats to our peace, our prosperity and our common humanity wherever they may exist. None of this will be easy," Obama told a news conference at the end of the Group of Eight summit of major economic powers in L'Aquila, Italy.
The International Monetary Fund released this week an updated economic forecast, predicting that the global economy will shrink 1.4 percent this year, the worst performance in the post-World War II period. That forecast was slightly worse than the 1.3 percent decline it predicted in April.
The IMF did see prospects improving for next year with global growth forecast to climb to 2.5 percent, up from an April projection of 1.9 percent.
Leaders at yesterday's meetings also committed themselves to a US$20 billion initiative to help farmers in poor countries boost production.
Asked about his appeal to fellow leaders for the aid, Obama said he talked about his father, who was born in Kenya.
"The telling point is when my father traveled to the US from Kenya to study ... the per capita income of Kenya was higher than South Korea's."
Now, he said, South Korea is industrialized and relatively wealthy while Kenya, as well as much of Africa, is still struggling economically.
Obama said world leaders had taken significant measures to address economic, environmental and global security issues.
"Reckless actions by a few have fueled a recession that spans the globe," Obama said of the meltdown that began in the United States with a tumble in housing prices and drastic slowing of business lending. The downturn now threatens superpowers and emerging nations alike.
He urged national leaders to unite behind a global recovery plan that includes stricter financial regulations and sustained stimulus spending.
"The only way forward is through shared and persistent effort to combat threats to our peace, our prosperity and our common humanity wherever they may exist. None of this will be easy," Obama told a news conference at the end of the Group of Eight summit of major economic powers in L'Aquila, Italy.
The International Monetary Fund released this week an updated economic forecast, predicting that the global economy will shrink 1.4 percent this year, the worst performance in the post-World War II period. That forecast was slightly worse than the 1.3 percent decline it predicted in April.
The IMF did see prospects improving for next year with global growth forecast to climb to 2.5 percent, up from an April projection of 1.9 percent.
Leaders at yesterday's meetings also committed themselves to a US$20 billion initiative to help farmers in poor countries boost production.
Asked about his appeal to fellow leaders for the aid, Obama said he talked about his father, who was born in Kenya.
"The telling point is when my father traveled to the US from Kenya to study ... the per capita income of Kenya was higher than South Korea's."
Now, he said, South Korea is industrialized and relatively wealthy while Kenya, as well as much of Africa, is still struggling economically.
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