The Global Financial Crisis: Brainstorming Session for Recommendations for G20 and Annual Meetings

Post-event Statement

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Purpose

The purpose of this conference is to develop viewpoints of Asian countries regarding the following main topic areas:

• Global Macroeconomic Policies and Response;
• Domestic Financial Regulatory Reform in G20 Countries: Is the Pace Sufficient?;
• The IMF: Resources, Role and Longer-term Perspective; and
• The G8, the G20, the UN, and the Bretton Woods Institutions: Formal and Informal Governance.

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Background

Sustained economic growth can contribute significantly to poverty reduction. Indeed, countries that have enjoyed economic growth for long periods of time have witnessed marked declines in poverty incidence. But an economic and financial crisis could frustrate such development. Even though countries can recover quickly from the crisis, they may not return to the same growth path as before the crisis, thus delaying further the economic development process. Because a crisis can have long-term developmental implications, ADBI is keen in making a contribution to the understanding of the causes of a crisis and to the formulation of policy measures that ADB's developing member countries (DMCs) could adopt to avoid a crisis.

The current financial crisis and global economic downturn did not originate in Asia, and, indeed, Asian countries in structural terms are generally in good shape. Nonetheless, Asian economies and financial markets have already begun to feel the impacts of the crisis, and these are likely to deepen substantially over the coming year. The most obvious areas of impact have been exports and equity markets, which have declined sharply across the region, but stresses in currency and credit markets have emerged as well, and domestic demand has softened. This sensitivity has been heightened by the export-led growth strategies followed by many countries.

At this stage, it is very important for Asian nations to present their views regarding economic and financial developments and policy in global forums such as the G20 and the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. This brainstorming session will aim to gather regional economic and financial policy experts to develop recommendations for Asian countries to be presented at the conference organized by the Brookings Institution and others entitled “The Global Economic Agenda Series: Washington Conference“ in early September in Washington, DC. This conference in turn is intended to serve as a forum for dialogue between policy makers and academics before the G20 Leaders' Summit to be held on September 24-25 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

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Objectives

The objective of the meeting is to develop concrete recommendations for positions of Asian countries on issues related to the current global financial crisis and the development of a new international financial architecture. The main areas to be discussed in the meeting are:

• Global Macroeconomic Policies and Response;
• Domestic Financial Regulatory Reform in G20 Countries: Is the Pace Sufficient?;
• The IMF: Resources, Role and Longer-term Perspective; and
• The G8, the G20, the UN, and the Bretton Woods Institutions: Formal and Informal Governance.

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Outputs

Summary report of recommendations for G20 leaders.