By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : US President Barack Obama wants advanced and emerging economies to act in unison in dealing with the global financial crisis and would come up with more specific plans closer to the April G20 meeting in London.
“The President talked about this when he was a mere senator and a candidate,” Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters Thursday when asked about the non inclusion of BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China – in the Financial Stability Forum.
Obama had then noted “that if one entity takes steps and it’s not followed by other countries taking steps, be it regulation, stability or stimulus, that you’re likely to see capital flows change all around the world-we certainly saw it back in September,” he said.
“…Again, the candidate Obama talked about that in September, working together in unison, all of these countries,” Gibbs said. “And I think you’ll hear more about some of those specific plans as we lead to and get closer to going in April to the second round of this in Europe.”
At the Nov 15 G20 summit in Washington, attended by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Sibgh, it was agreed that the membership of the FSF will be expanded to include emerging economies, such as China and India.
At present FSF founded in 1999 to promote international financial stability consists of major national financial authorities of about a dozen industrialised nations and international financial bodies.
At home, Obama’s financial stability and the recovery plan has three main areas: a recovery and reinvestment plan, a financial stability package; and a financial re-regulation plan, Gibbs said.
The first part – a $825 billion stimulus package – cleared its first hurdle Wednesday when the House of Representatives passed it, but without the bipartisan support he had hoped for. Not a single House Republican broke ranks to support it. In fact, 11 Democrats also voted against the package.
The stimulus bill now moves to the Senate, where Republican members want less spending and more tax cuts. The full Senate will vote on its version next week. Should the Senate and House pass different versions, the two bills would have to be conferenced together. Then both chambers would have to vote on the new conference version in the coming weeks.