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US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Saturday in Instabul at a meeting of International Monetary Fund (IMF) that economic recovery signs are “stronger” and have appeared “sooner” than expected throughout the world, while also saying it’s too soon to retreat from stimulus programs. In a statement issued at a meeting in there, Secretary Geithner said global financial conditions have improved “dramatically.” The US housing market has stabilized, while jobless rate in the USA is remains “unacceptably high” and the financial system remains damaged, as a result, it’s not the time for governments to roll back stimulus, he said.

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World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick said Monday that the global economic crisis is contributing to shifts in power relations in the World that will impact currency markets, monetary policy, trade relations and the role of developing countries. In a speech ahead of the Annual Meetings in Istanbul, Turkey, of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), Zoellick said leaders should reshape the multilateral system and forge a “responsible globalization” that would encourage balanced global growth and financial stability, embrace global efforts to counter climate change, and advance opportunity for the poorest. “The old international economic order was struggling to keep up with change before the crisis,” Zoellick told an audience at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University, in Washington, D.C. Read more

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The sharp decline in the US economy is ending and recovery will come about slowly according to a report released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday.

In an annual report on the world’s largest economy, IMF stuck to its earlier forecasts that the US GDP will contract by 2.6% in 2009 and then rise by 0.8% in 2010.

Due to the large monetary and fiscal stimulus and wide range of measures to restore the financial stability, “the sharp fall in economic output seems to be ending, and confidence in financial stability has strengthened,” the IMF said in its report after the Article IV annual consultation with US officials. However, “financial strains are still elevated and the outlook remains for only a gradual recovery, with risks still tilted to the downside,” it said.

Also on Friday, the US Commerce Department reported that the US economy fell at a more subdued 1.0% pace in the Y 2009 Q-2, a strong signal that the worst recession since the Great Depression has eased, and is coming to a close.

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Last weeks long awaited G20 Summit Communique lifted the hopes of the world’s investors and leaves a lot of work to be done going forward by the Group. The language of the was vague and optimistic

The Highlights:
On Resources: The G-20 announced US$50B for low-income countries, and an additional US$100B in lending for Development Banks.

On Reform: Developing countries will have greater representation in the international financial institutions and that election to World Bank/IMF leadership will be based on merit.
On Regulation: The G-20 announced regulation of illicit tax havens.

As with all world summits, the G-20, just stated the goals and heralded the agreements of the parity countries leaving the hard specific work to be done.

The powers that be need to work to ensure that money going to developing countries is given as grants, not loans that trigger another debt crisis.

There remains much work to be done on the Green Agenda in the interests of developing countries at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen later this year.

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