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G20 Summit pledges funds to world



Leaders who have met at the G20 summit in London have pledged $1 trillion in funds to help stimulate global financial recovery through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other institutions.

Read the Al Jazeera article here (picture above from same article). An exercpt:

"...There had been indications before the summit that G20 members were divided on how best to pull the global economy out of recession.

"
The US and Britain are in favor of pumping more money into the financial system, seeing the strategy as a way to encourage banks to lend to consumers and thus entice them to spend money on goods and services.

"The US has so far spent, lent or guaranteed $12.8 trillion - almost as much as the value of everything produced in the country in 2008.

But France and Germany had signaled their opposition to further fiscal stimulus packages, calling instead for an emphasis to be placed on increasing regulation of the international financial system..."

I wonder how this will play out for developing countries. The US and Britain are focused on monetary injection to stimulate consumer spending, while France and Germany support tighter regulation. Then again, will the rural youth in India, Uganda or Chile see any progress of these decisions in his/her households' lives? Will there be a safety net put in place such that subsistence farmers and other small-business owners in such countries do not suffer from external conditions affecting demand for their products, and thereby affecting their basic necessities to live?

We'll see.

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