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From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

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FROM POVERTY TO POWERhis call the following year, when finance ministers announced theirsupport for the development of a ‘Charter of Responsible Lending’,but nothing concrete has yet been agreed.Action is also needed on so-called ‘odious debt’ racked up by corrup<strong>to</strong>r repressive regimes. Until 2006 Ethiopia, for example, was stillrepaying debts incurred by the repressive Mengistu regime that was inpower from 1974–91, much of which went <strong>to</strong> finance the suppressionof the erstwhile freedom fighters who are now in government.Similarly, the ANC government in South Africa is repaying debtsincurred <strong>to</strong> prop up apartheid, and the Chilean government is payingoff debts taken on by the dicta<strong>to</strong>r Augus<strong>to</strong> Pinochet.A just solution would be <strong>to</strong> forgive odious debt through some formof international adjudication and, by giving the UN the authority <strong>to</strong>declare ‘credit sanctions’ against current regimes, make it clear thatdebts <strong>to</strong> these regimes would be considered odious. This would preventthe ‘immoral hazard’ of banks and governments lending <strong>to</strong> repressiveregimes and thus saddling their peoples with the obligation <strong>to</strong> repaythe loans.One especially pernicious side effect of successive debt-reliefinitiatives has been <strong>to</strong> extend the influence of the IMF and the WorldBank. Unless these institutions are substantially reformed, we areunlikely <strong>to</strong> see the sort of just and inclusive development model thatwould make debt crises a thing of the past.FINANCIAL CRISESCitizens’ confidence is measured every four years with an election.The market measures business confidence every four seconds.MARCUS FARO DE CASTRO, BRAZILIAN ACADEMIC 32In rich and poor countries alike, the ubiqui<strong>to</strong>us glass and steelskyscrapers of the banks and other financial institutions are one of thecharacteristic landmarks of the new age of globalisation. The rise ofglobal finance has been extraordinary. The breakdown in the early1970s of the global system of fixed exchange rates established at theBret<strong>to</strong>n-Woods Conference in 1944 unleashed a world of financialvolatility in which huge profits could be made by those who knew how<strong>to</strong> ride the ever-increasing surges of capital flowing across borders.310

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