south-north development monitor SUNS [Email Edition]
SUNS #4456, Wednesday, 16 June 1999
contents
Trade: One more try for consensus around Moore? (Chakravarthi Raghavan, Geneva)
Finance: Signs of improvement, also reassessment of risks (Chakravarthi Raghavan, Geneva)
Finance: World Mayors urge debt cancellation (IPS, Bonn)
Argentina: Low inflation has no effect on poverty (IPS, Buenos Aires)
United States: Native Americans denounce toxic legacy (IPS, Laguna, New Mexico)
South-East Asia: Charting a 'New Vision' to heal wounds (IPS, Manila)
United States: White House-CIA feud over Guatemala killings (IPS, Washington)
Some excerpts from selected articles:
Trade: One more try for consensus around Moore?
Geneva, 15 June (Chakravarthi Raghavan) -- An informal meeting of the General Council Tuesday afternoon is to be told by Chairman Amb. Ali Mchumo of Tanzania that 80 members are now supporting the Mchumo proposal to elect Mike Moore as the next Director- General, but that several maintain their formal objection, and others have said they could not support the proposal so long as objections remain.
In a statement to the media, Moore held out the prospect of a long new process and possible deadlock, and argued for his own choice as consensus Director-General.
Moore quoted from the Mchumo statement, and said a heavy preponderance of WTO members supported him, though there was as yet no consensus. Moore added that if he is not elected, a new process and new candidates would result in many more months, with no guarantee that there would not be further deadlock. An informal text of Mchumo's latest report of his consultations was made available to the Council members Tuesday morning, in advance of the informal meeting.
According to some trade diplomats, there is little indication that there will be any break-through. Aggrieved by what they see is an unfair process, the supporters of Dr.Supachai Panitchpakdi are standing firm, while even the supporters of Moore do not see him being chosen by the present process, and are unwilling to have a vote.
The chances are that the Council would have to call a halt to the present process that began in July 1998, and consider a new process to name a Director-General, some trade diplomats said.
The present process has been so muddied as to become counter- productive, and no one selected this way will be able to function, they said.
Finance: Signs of improvement, also reassessment of risks
Geneva, 14 June (Chakravarthi Raghavan) -- While the global financial markets have shown signs of improvement during the first quarter of 1999, the global reassessment of risks (in the wake of the Russian default and the Brazilian crisis) has had a lasting influence, says the Bank of International Settlements in its second quarterly review of the International Banking and Financial Market developments.
Despite some retreat, credit spreads, liquidity premia and volatility all remained well above their pre-Russian crisis levels.
Fears of a possible loss of confidence in the US currency have dissipated, as buoyant US growth gave rise to anticipation of higher interest rates. But the initial enthusiasm of investors for the euro rapidly waned owing to the weakness of economic activity in euro area.
The volume of announced international debt securities surged by 58% in the first quarter of 1999, reaching an all time high of $415 billion. The launch of the euro in January was evidently a factor, with a large number of borrowers seeking to create benchmarks.
In contrast, the volume of international syndicated loan facilities dropped from $225 billion in the fourth quarter of 1998 to $156 billion in the first quarter of 1999. The heavy capital-raising activity of banks seems to have been due less to a desire to expand than to strengthen balance sheets.
There has also been a growing use of short-term credit lines, which are less capital intensive and are not included in the BIS data on announcements.
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