G20 agrees to continue economic stimulus measures; Geithner shops international reserve accord
Saturday, September 5th, 2009
You aren’t done being robbed yet. Though bankers can’t pay their staff bonuses, it’s perfectly okay for national governments to continue shovelling taxpayer’s money into the central bank system. In any case, this is just a preamble to the Septmber 24-25 meeting in Pittsburgh, where the international ‘Financial Stability Board’ releases its report on what to do. The US is pushing for an accord on international reserves, a further step towards increasing the power of world banking authorities.
Flashback: Central bank of Canada stands ready to inflate currency in response to strong loonie | Budget officer ‘can’t tell’ if stimulus plan working | G8 leaders see no early end to stimulus | Flaherty looks for way to end stimulus | Harper lays out stimulus spending in progress report | ‘Reduced pace of deterioration’ indicates economy on the mend: Flaherty | Federal deficit to top $50B | Bank of Canada poised to print money to buy bonds | G20 deal part of ‘unprecedented’ response to crisis: Harper | Stimulus needed now, Bank of Canada says | Premiers to press Harper for infrastructure boost | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Flaherty vows short-lived deficit, consults corporate chiefs on spending initiatives | Harper government plans deficits as deep as $30 billion | Jim Flaherty Urging Greater Federal, International Control over Canadian economy | Deficits ‘essential,’ Harper says | Flaherty eyes sale of Canadian government assets | Flaherty lauds Keynesian global ‘economic stimulus’ strategies
, Associated Press
September 5, 2009
LONDON – Top finance officials from rich and developing countries agreed today to curb hefty bankers’ bonuses, but the proposed crackdown on excessive payouts so far falls short of European demands after the U.S. and Britain shied away from imposing a cap.
The Group of 20 finance ministers also pledged to maintain stimulus measures such as extra government spending and low interest rates to boost the global economy, warning that the fledgling recovery that provided the backdrop to their meeting here is by no means assured.
“The financial system is showing signs of repair,” said U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. “Growth is now under way. However, we still face significant challenges ahead.”
The G20 joint statement issued at the end of their London meeting said that fiscal and monetary policy will stay “expansionary” for as long as needed to reduce the chances of a double-dip recession.