November 12, 2010 8:19 PM

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‘G-20 pledges to refrain from devaluation of currency

Leaders of world's major developed and developing countries wrapped up their 2nd day G – 20 summit in Seoul pledging to refrain from competitive devaluation of currency. They also promised to enhance exchange rate flexibility and committed themselves for a balanced and sustainable growth. Leaders agreed to come up with indicative guidelines to tackle trade imbalances affecting world growth.A declaration issued at the end of the summit said the members agreed to enhance Mutual Assessment Process – MAP – to promote external sustainability. The summit also declared a 7-point Seoul Action Plan, which includes reforms in IMF to strengthen global financial safety nets to cope with financial volatility and global partnership for Financial Inclusion and a flexible Small and Medium Enterprise Finance Framework.The G20 leaders also gave their backing to reforms designed to give emerging economies such as India and China a bigger say in the International Monetary Fund. The G20 also committed itself to completing soon the long-running Doha Development Round of global trade talks, saying that 2011 presented a “critical window of opportunity, albeit narrow” to conclude the discussions. During the deliberations, tensions had been high between some delegations over how to correct distortions in currency and trade. But the agreement fell short of a US push to limit trade deficits. Some fear the conflict, chiefly between China and the US, may threaten global growth. US President Barack Obama said there should be no controversy about fixing imbalances that helped to contribute to the crisis that we just went through.Earlier, addressing the plenary Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh said called for a new re-balancing of global economy. He said recycling of surplus savings into investment in developing countries will not only address the immediate demand imbalance, it will also help to address developmental imbalances. Dr.Singh is on his way back home.AIR correspondent covering the summit, however, says the declaration has several vague notions like job creation and MAP. It has deferred the monitoring of assessment plan to 2011 when French presidency of G-20 takes over. The advocacy of balanced and sustainable growth by the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has, however, echoed in the declaration.

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