Sydney: Satisfied with the outcome of G20 meeting, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Sunday said India's concerns with regard to withdrawal of US stimulus and the need to expedite IMF quota reforms have been taken on board by the group of rich and developing nations.
"The communique has been drawn by the deputies sitting together and our concerns have been fully reflected in the communique," he told PTI in an interview after conclusion of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meet. The Minister said "yes", when asked whether he was satisfied with the G20 communique.
The communique was released at the end of the conference which among others was attended by Finance Ministers of several important countries including the US, Japan, France and Australia.
Representatives of global bodies like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Central Bank also participated in the conference. Collectively G20 represents 85 per cent of the global economy.
India, Chidambaram said, has expressed concern over impact of monetary easing by the US Federal Reserve on the developing countries and underlined the need to expedite the IMF quota reforms which seeks to give greater say to emerging economies in the multilateral lending body. "...when countries withdraw from quantitative easing they should keep in mind the spillovers on the developing countries," he said.
Emerging economies followed the advice of the IMF when the major economies went through a period of downturn after the 2008 global financial crisis, Chidambaram said. "So when they (developed world) sought our cooperation during the economic downturn it is only fair that they cooperate with developing countries during the economic recovery," he said, while referring to the remarks of German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble that India should not attribute its problems to monetary polices of developed nations.
As regards the tapering by the US Federal Reserve, Chidambaram said the concerns of the emerging economies have been acknowledged by the G20 and it was "for the US to follow up and address the concerns of the developing countries." The US Fed's tapering has caused flight of capital out of emerging economies and in turn hammering their currencies.
On the general mood at the G20 conference, which was taking place in the backdrop of IMF projecting acceleration of global growth to 4 per cent next year from 3.7 per cent in 2013, he said, "the general mood is cautious...(it is) cautiously optimistic."
Taking on board India's concern with regard to the impact of tapering, the communique said that, "all central banks (will) maintain their commitment that monetary policy settings will continue to be carefully calibrated and clearly communicated, in the context of ongoing exchange of information and being mindful of impacts on the global economy."
Chidambaram said massive amount of investment in infrastructure is required. "That is true for whole world but developing countries require more and better infrastructure and therefore we strongly support the World Bank's proposal to set up a global infrastructure facility and the countries must contribute to that facility," he said.
He further said: "We want the 14th round of quota reforms that began in 2010 to be completed quickly by April 2014 and discussions starting on the 15th round". Chidambaram also said India has a huge stake in the automatic exchange of information for the tax purposes as well as BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) project.
"...we want them to be completed by the agreed timetable so that concrete steps are taken by all countries and laws are made by all countries," he said. When asked if he impressed upon the G20 Members that India has put its fiscal position in order, the Minister said the "story is well known".
"I think that they know that India has pulled back on the path of fiscal consolidation and has been able to contain current account deficit, has been able to moderate inflation... I have shared them in bilateral meetings and private conversations," Chidambaram said, adding he had no occasion to speak about about it in the forum.
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