Finding a way out

The world’s leading economies will gather in Washington on 15 November to discuss the global financial crisis. We look at commentary on the G20 from the Financial Times.

Financial Times

On November 15, barely 10 days after the election of a new US president, the world’s leading economies will gather in Washington to discuss the global financial crisis. Although the Group of 20 gathering has been thrown together at short notice … it can still play a valuable role.

With goodwill and imagination, the G20 leaders can commit themselves to a co-ordinated, co-operative solution to the financial crisis that, day by day, is sweeping across the developing world. That would be a powerful political response to an immediate problem. The alternative, that countries look out for their own interest while the system falls apart, is too horrible to contemplate. …

The G20 meeting … does offer a chance for some of the rich economies to undo some of the damage they have done to global economic co-ordination over the past decade. Determined US leadership for the future will have to wait until a new president moves into the White House in January. The rest of the world cannot allow a vacuum to exist until then. …

Leaders may not have all the answers on November 15, but they do need to show they are ready to act.