Global economic meltdown to lead to migrant workers' job-shedding: Ban Ki-moon
Friday, 31 October 2008
From Fazle Rashid
NEW YORK, Oct 30: Severe global economic meltdown and the accompanying credit crunch will wipe out millions of jobs of the migrant workers and further accelerate poverty in some of the world's poorest nations, warned UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon now on a visit to Asia that will also take him to Bangladesh.
The pinch will not only be felt in the poorest nations. Relatively better placed nations like Egypt and Jordan have already been hit by the slow-down in the construction works in the Middle East particularly in Dubai which was witnessing a construction boom. The countries have also been hit by a drastic cut in the flow of remittances. The migration flow has already started to reverse. "We are witnessing a net outflow of workers from countries facing economic crisis," UN secretary general said.
The UN boss warned leaders of the industrialised nations against imposing more restriction on labour migration, saying it would encourage illegal migration and human trafficking. Workers from the troubled nations are returning back home.
The economic meltdown is making strange bed-fellows. Russia and China are nearing a deal on ' loan for oil '. China will provide Russian oil companies with hard currency while Russian companies will supply oil to China in the next several years. Thailand and Iran have agreed on a barter agreement. They will barter rice with oil. The UAE, a trusted US ally is negotiating with Iran a deal on greater economic and political relations. The foreign ministers of the two countries signed agreement to set up a committee to boost economic and political cooperation. The two have strained relations over Iran's nuclear ambition as well its occupations of three island which UAE claims as theirs.
In a dramatic development the US fed announced yesterday that it would lend $30 billion each to Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Singapore, confirming the economic contagion is spreading all across the globe. The Fed agreed to assist the four countries because of ' their fundamentally sound and well managed economies'. These nations were described as ' systemically important. The Fed is seeking to address these needs and promote global economic stability in conjunction with the IMF. The Fed had initially agreed to enlist India but later decided against it.
In effect the US central bank is taking care of the dollar liquidity needs of these four emerging economies leaving the IMF to take care of the rest. But the fear that the IMF may not have enough fund to meet the demands of the countries in distress is growing. The IMF has $200 billion in its reserve. Even in the midst of the economic turmoil, the allegations of corruption and wrongdoing are being heard in chorus. American International Group (AIG) is rapidly running through $123 billion in emergency lending provided by the Fed reserve, raising question about how a company claiming to be solvent in September could have developed such a big hole by October, New York Times (NYT) in a report posed this question today.
The US Fed reserve had provided bailout package to AIG, ahead of Lehman Brothers who had sought similar help two months earlier before its collapse. The analysts are smelling rat in the Fed-AIG deal. Angered by the news of the misuse of taxpayers money; Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representative and Henry Reid, Senate majority leader have asked treasury secretary Henry Paulson to ensure that government's $700 billion package is used for its intended purpose to resume lending by unlocking the credit freeze.
They have asked the treasury secretary to apply tougher restrictions on severance pay or golden parachute (golden handshake) payments for executives of the nine banks that have received government's financial help. The treasury secretary was also under fire for letting banks in distress bidding for acquisitions.
NEW YORK, Oct 30: Severe global economic meltdown and the accompanying credit crunch will wipe out millions of jobs of the migrant workers and further accelerate poverty in some of the world's poorest nations, warned UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon now on a visit to Asia that will also take him to Bangladesh.
The pinch will not only be felt in the poorest nations. Relatively better placed nations like Egypt and Jordan have already been hit by the slow-down in the construction works in the Middle East particularly in Dubai which was witnessing a construction boom. The countries have also been hit by a drastic cut in the flow of remittances. The migration flow has already started to reverse. "We are witnessing a net outflow of workers from countries facing economic crisis," UN secretary general said.
The UN boss warned leaders of the industrialised nations against imposing more restriction on labour migration, saying it would encourage illegal migration and human trafficking. Workers from the troubled nations are returning back home.
The economic meltdown is making strange bed-fellows. Russia and China are nearing a deal on ' loan for oil '. China will provide Russian oil companies with hard currency while Russian companies will supply oil to China in the next several years. Thailand and Iran have agreed on a barter agreement. They will barter rice with oil. The UAE, a trusted US ally is negotiating with Iran a deal on greater economic and political relations. The foreign ministers of the two countries signed agreement to set up a committee to boost economic and political cooperation. The two have strained relations over Iran's nuclear ambition as well its occupations of three island which UAE claims as theirs.
In a dramatic development the US fed announced yesterday that it would lend $30 billion each to Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Singapore, confirming the economic contagion is spreading all across the globe. The Fed agreed to assist the four countries because of ' their fundamentally sound and well managed economies'. These nations were described as ' systemically important. The Fed is seeking to address these needs and promote global economic stability in conjunction with the IMF. The Fed had initially agreed to enlist India but later decided against it.
In effect the US central bank is taking care of the dollar liquidity needs of these four emerging economies leaving the IMF to take care of the rest. But the fear that the IMF may not have enough fund to meet the demands of the countries in distress is growing. The IMF has $200 billion in its reserve. Even in the midst of the economic turmoil, the allegations of corruption and wrongdoing are being heard in chorus. American International Group (AIG) is rapidly running through $123 billion in emergency lending provided by the Fed reserve, raising question about how a company claiming to be solvent in September could have developed such a big hole by October, New York Times (NYT) in a report posed this question today.
The US Fed reserve had provided bailout package to AIG, ahead of Lehman Brothers who had sought similar help two months earlier before its collapse. The analysts are smelling rat in the Fed-AIG deal. Angered by the news of the misuse of taxpayers money; Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representative and Henry Reid, Senate majority leader have asked treasury secretary Henry Paulson to ensure that government's $700 billion package is used for its intended purpose to resume lending by unlocking the credit freeze.
They have asked the treasury secretary to apply tougher restrictions on severance pay or golden parachute (golden handshake) payments for executives of the nine banks that have received government's financial help. The treasury secretary was also under fire for letting banks in distress bidding for acquisitions.