Speculators Undermining Recovery, Report Says (Haider Rizvi)

Created by : Francis Goodwin View profile
Sept. 10, 2009 -- UNITED NATIONS (Inter Press Service) -- The current economic meltdown will continue for years if the world community does not take firm and coordinated action to regulate the flow of capital, say researchers who have just concluded a new study for the United Nations.
[File photo of the World Bank (L) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington, DC. With the global economy in the deepest recession in 60 years, a record 131 economies reformed business regulation in the fiscal year ended in May, a World Bank report showed. (AFP/File/Tim Sloan)]File photo of the World Bank (L) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington, DC. With the global economy in the deepest recession in 60 years, a record 131 economies reformed business regulation in the fiscal year ended in May, a World Bank report showed. (AFP/File/Tim Sloan)
"There hasn't been much achievement in regulating the financial markets," says Heiner Flassbeck, one of the study's authors associated with the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). "The world is still mired in deep economic crisis."

The UNCTAD "Trade and Development Report" points out that despite a professed commitment to tackle the recession, many countries in the developed world have failed to rein in the financial industry's indulgence in speculative investment.

According to the report, this crisis reflects the "predominance" of the financial markets over the real economy.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/09/10-5