G8 to fight poverty accelerate debt relief

Group of Eight leaders vowed recently to fight the root causes of poverty and conflict but were accused of squandering their three-day summit in Japan.

“We must tackle the root causes of conflict and poverty”, said a final communiqué by the heads of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the United States.

“We must engage in a new partnership with non – G8 countries, particularly developing countries, international organisations and civil society, including the private sector and non-governmental organisations”.

They vowed to make the Internet more accessible to all, fight the scourge of diseases such as HIV/AIDS in a state private partnership and work for a new round of global trade liberalisation talks this year.

But the big world powers admitted only nine countries had so far qualified for a year old promise to cancel the 100 billion dollars of debt held by the poorest 41 nations.

G8 leaders promised to try to raise that number to 20 by the end of this year.

But campaigners were scathing of the commitment. cancel Third World debt.

US President Bill Clinton anounced a 300 million dollar school nutrition programme to help educate children in poor nations, mostly in Africa and Asia.

The programme would make US surplus commodities like corn, wheat and soybeans available to developing nations to help induce parents to send their children to school by providing full meals.

It was welcomed by the British charity group Oxfam and Bangladesh based Global Campaign for Education.

“The so-called development summit was in danger of becoming the lobster and caviar summit as the event’s lavish facilities over shadowed the policy agenda,” they said in a joint statement.

Group of Eight leaders said in a final communiqué they would strengthen efforts to accelerate debt relief for the world’s poorest countries.

They agreed to push forward the enhanced heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) debt initiative launched last year at the G8 summit in Cologne, Germany, the communiqué said.

“We will work expeditiously together with HIPCs and the IFIs (international financial institutions) to realise the expectation that 20 countries will each the decision point within the framework of the enhanced HIPC initiative by the end of this year”, the leaders said.

German import prices up

German import prices rose 2.0 percent in May from the previous month and gained 11.7 percent over 12 months, the Federal Statistics Office said recently.

Meanwhile, the index for export prices for May rose 0.7 percent on the month and gained 3.8 percent over 12 months. That compares to April’s rise of 0.5 percent in export prices on the month and 3.2 percent over 12 months.

In April, import prices rose 9.8 percent over the year, the office said in a statement.

Excluding oil prices, the rise in import prices in May over April was 6.7 percent over the 12 month period.

In May, crude oil prices rose 15.2 percent and hydrocarbon prices rose 13.4 percent over the previous month. Natural gas prices rose by 6.5 percent.

Over the year, the strongest rises in import prices came from oil products, with hydrocarbons rising 107.6 percent, crude oil increased 100.0 percent, while natural gas gained 84.1 percent.

US Chamber of Commerce hails Cuba trade deal

The US Chamber of Commerce recently hailed an agreement among House Republicans to allow the sale of food and medicine to Cuba as a first step toward ending a “38-year-old failed foreign policy.”

At the end of a marathon meeting that concluded House leaders agreed to ease restrictions on exports to Cuba as part of legislation that would also relax sanctions on Iran, Libya, North Korea and Sudan.

An easing in the embargo against Cuba has been vehemently opposed by cristics of President Fidel Castro and his communist principles.

But Democrats have been joined by some Republicans in siding with US farmers, pharmaceutical companies and other exporters keen to sell American goods to Cuba.

Bruce Josten, Chamber of Commerce executive Vice President, called the Republican leadership agreement “a positive development and a good first step to ending a 38 year old failed foreign policy.”

“Using food and medicine as a weapon is immoral, plain and simple. America is better than that.

“The US Chamber of Commerce has long believed that engaging countries through trade and free enterprise is the best, most proven method to bring about chane in odious political systems.”

UK economic growth rebounds

Britain’s economy expanded by a stronger than expected 0.9 percent in the second quarter from the first, preliminary data showed recently a figure which reignited fears of a further rise in interest rates. The Office for National Statistics said gross domestic product was up 3.1 percent from a year earlier, slightly higher than the annual figure of 3.0 percent in Q1, and the highest for two years.

The quarterly figure was the best since the third quarter of last year and compares to an unusually weak 0.5 percent in the first quarter. Peter Osler at GNI said the numbers were at the higher end of expectations, which centred around 0.8 percent, with the strength due to the service sector.

“It raises the chances of a rate hike but I would not say that is certain.” he said.