5 May 2011

UN / ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SURVEY REPORT

The latest UN regional social and economic report released Thursday said that Asia-Pacific developing countries will continue driving the global economy in
2011, however high food and fuel prices, and volatile capital inflows pose fresh challenges. UNTV

Posted at: May 5, 2011 3:34 pm

Duration: 02:23

Available in: SD

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STORY: UN / ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SURVEY REPORT
TRT: 2.23
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 05 MAY 2011, NEW YORK

SHOTLIST:

RECENT 2011, UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters

05 MAY 2011, NEW YORK

1. Wide shot, press conference
2. Cutaway, journalist
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jomo Sundaram, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations:
"The region, particularly East Asia, India, Sri Lanka and so on have been leading the global economic recovery. And also it is very clear that the connections involving Asia are no longer intra Asian or Asia and the West but also very importantly involves south-south economic relations and this has become increasingly important."
4. Cutaway, journalists reading the report
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Jomo Sundaram, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations:
"One of the major challenges which many developing countries are facing now is managing capital flows, partly due to the experience of the Asian crisis in '97 and '98. East Asia and South Asia seem to be much more comfortable about selectively applying capital controls to deal with these problems and this is an especially important consideration because many of the flows which are going to many parts of many so called emerging market economies will eventually be reversed and the bubbles which they have generated will eventually burst. And by imposing controls, East Asian and South Asian economies are probably preparing themselves for this inevitable bursting of these bubbles."
6. Cutaway, cameraman
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Jomo Sundaram, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations:
"The first challenge which is identified in the survey is actually inflation. Rising inflationary pressures and I have not mentioned inflation so far and its come very close to the bottom of my list, not because I do not consider it important but when you look at the external forces which have caused the inflation you then take a very different view about what can be done about inflation and what should be done about inflation. I want to emphasize that although there are undoubtedly inflationary pressures much of which are generated by external forces the policy conclusion from this is that there is no excuse then to introduce deflationary policies in a response to this externally induced inflation and such deflationary policies will slow down economic growth and this will have very important consequences."
8. Wide shot, press conference ends

STORYLINE:

A new regional report released by the United Nations (UN) today finds that developing countries in Asia and the Pacific will continue driving the global economy in 2011, while warning that high food and fuel prices as well as volatile capital inflows pose fresh challenges.

The annual flagship report by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) projects a strong economic growth rate of 7.3 per cent after last year's 8.8 per cent.

At the same time, the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2011 says the regional outlook for this year is subject to downside risks, notably from the return of high food and fuel prices, sluggish recovery in rich nations and a deluge of volatile capital inflows.

The after-effects of natural disasters will pose risks, although the regional economic impact of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March will be less severe than initially expected.

The report estimates that rising food and oil prices could lead to 42 million additional people in poverty, joining the 19 million already affected in 2010 – with negative repercussions for achieving the global anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in some countries in the region.

ESCAP urges the Group of 20 (G20) major economies to act decisively to moderate the volatility of oil and food prices, including through regulating commodity markets to reduce speculation, and negotiating a benchmark "fair" price of oil with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

It also urges protecting poor and vulnerable households through strengthening of public food distribution systems, food vouchers, school feeding programmes and other targeted subsidies. Priority must also be given to enhancing support for agriculture.

Noting that the region has over 950 million people living on less than $1.25 a day, ESCAP cites the need to improve quality job opportunities, expand social security programmes and promote agriculture and rural development. Bridging the region's huge infrastructure gaps using its equally huge savings can boost jobs and incomes, it adds.

The report also highlights the benefits of boosting intra-regional trade and strengthening connectivity in the areas of transport, information and communications technologies (ICT), energy and financial cooperation.