Paul Martin confident in the success of G20 summit
Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney appointed as Chairman of Financial Stability Board
11/14/11
The 2010 G20 summit, hosted in Toronto, features participants from the major economies of the world. Photo by The Prime Minister’s Office (flickr)
During the G20 summit, Paul Martin says that he found the meeting “heartening” and that a closer monitoring of the commitments expressed is needed. The meeting, held in France, has seen an agreement in which Italy’s economy would be administered by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union. The decision to have Italy’s economy and finance be governed by the IMF and EU is billed as a measure to prevent the country from falling into same debt crisis as Greece. “Italy is the elephant in the room; it’s a horse of a different colour. The indebtedness is so large, the problems are so large, and they have to have an assurance that [Italian Prime Minister Silvio] Berlusconi is going to carry through.” said Paul Martin, a participant in several G20 meetings and former Prime Minister of Canada.
In addition, Martin said that IMF’s suggestion of surveillance of the Italian economy as “a major step forward.” According to CBC news, Italy’s borrowing rate exceeded six percent this week. In general, “there were a couple of things that are really quite heartening” Martin continued. The cancelling of a referendum on a Greek bailout scheme proved to be a success. The other accomplishment of the summit is the empowerment of the Financial Stability Board in which it now has the added responsibility of monitoring global banks. The G20 communiqué expressed that the Board is likely to “improve its capacity to co-ordinate and monitor [the G20’s] financial regulation agenda” as well as having greater financial autonomy. In an interview with CBC, Martin said that the strengthening of the Board’s power and responsibilities was one he previously pursued.
Likewise, the former Prime Minister also mentioned his satisfaction with the appointment of Mark Carney (Bank of Canada governor) as the chairman of the Financial Stability Board. “Even more important is the fact that Mark Carney has been named to head it, because Mark Carney has made it very clear that he is taking this job on, and will make sure the Financial Stability Board is to ensure common minimum standards and strengthen the degree of global national regulation with co-ordination in banks,” said Martin.
Martin took the opportunity to express that Canada’s employment rate is likely to depend upon the development of other countries due to the increasing integration of the world economy. In order for the Canadian employment rate to increase, the former Prime Minister said that the objectives and success of the G20 summit is crucial as the stumbling of the Greek and Italian economies may produce undesired consequences in Canada. “The fact is our job market in Canada was affected by the tsunami in Japan; our automobile market is being impacted by the floods in Bangkok, in both those cases, you had the provision of auto parts that form part of the cars that we build here,” said Martin.
Overall, the G20 meeting promised to reform various policies of the financial sector that include improving farm productivity, reform energies and subsidies, and the creation of more jobs for the younger generation, according to CBC news.
The participants of the G20 summit include finance ministers and central bank governors from the world’s twenty major economies. The representation of the European Union consists of the President of the European Council as well as the European Central Bank. The G20 organization was originally proposed by the Canadian politician Paul Martin, and attempts to tackle major financial problems of the world through means of cooperation and consultation. Due to the success of the 2008 Washington G-20 summit, the meeting has replaced the G8 as the main economic entity for wealthy nations.
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