[DEBATE] : Manuel sees silver lining in global crisis

[Alan Murphy]

Hi Madi
I would say absolute poverty is the inability to afford all
necessities for a fulfilling life. Relative poverty is the
differential between rich and poor. So, these can only be given
specific values in a particular situation. Eradicating poverty means
dealing with both types.
Alan

On 4/7/09, Mandi Smallhorne <mandiwrite at icon.co.za> wrote:
> The sharp decline of the number of people living in poverty rather depends
> on how you define poverty - and where in the world you are: "In 1980, one
> out of every 10 poor people lived in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2000, the figure
> rose to one out of every three. Future projections predict that one out of
> every two poor people will live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Between 1981 and
> 2001, the number of poor in Sub-Saharan Africa rose from 41 percent to 46
> percent. In absolute numbers, this means that the number of poor jumped from
> 164 million to 314 million. The GDP per capita income fell some 14 percent."
> (That's the World Bank, fwiw.)
> Is there such a thing as a universally acknowledged standard of poverty -
> something a bit more nuanced than the famous 'less than $1 a day'?
> Mandi
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Riaz K Tayob [mailto:riaz.tayob at gmail.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 10:30 AM
> To: debate at smtpauth02.mweb.co.za:SA discussion list
> Subject: [DEBATE] : Manuel sees silver lining in global crisis
>
>
>
> Manuel sees silver lining in global crisis
> JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA Apr 07 2009 08:42
>
> The global economic crisis will give way to a more robust and more
> enduring era of economic development in Africa and the developing world
> than hitherto contemplated, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Monday.
>
> "Stronger economic development in the countries of the South is not a
> new event," he said.
>
> "It has roots that go back a decade or two, and it has several
> inter-connected strands," he said in an address to the Helen Suzman
> Foundation at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs) in
> Johannesburg.
>
> These strands included the extraordinary economic growth of China and
> India and the sharp decline in the number of people living in poverty
> worldwide; the sustained rise in commodity prices, reflecting much more
> broad-based industrialisation and modernisation, and associated demand
> for infrastructure and traded goods and services.
>
> They also included the rapid increase in the use of new, lower cost and
> efficiency-enhancing information and telecommunications technologies;
> the rise in urbanisation rates and mega-cities across the developing
> world, and rapid increases in education and technology adoption and
> greater macroeconomic stability in much ofthe developing world,
> including several leading African economies.
>
> "Although growth may be interrupted for a period, these are powerful
> dynamics and they are not going to be reversed," Manuel said.
>
> In some respects the structural imbalances that underlie the present
> crisis were constraints to broader development, and so the resolution of
> these imbalances was a condition for more sustainable growth and prosperity.
>
> "These are not just economic dynamics, or changing trade and financial
> relations. Structural change is also about the evolution of institutions,"
>
> Manuel said there was, worldwide, a welcome yet sometimes troublesome
> decline in political timidity, a strengthening of people-centered
> democracy, and a willingness to pursue reforms within developing countries.
>
>
> "There is also an opportunity now to re-shape the international
> financial and developmental architecture to bring about both greater
> transparency and better resource flows to support the developing world
> and alongside the restructuring of trade and financial relationships we
> will begin to see better management of earnings disparities and, over
> time, greater fairness in labour market outcomes across the world."
>
> These trends would complement other economic transitions, like
> South-South economic links, and in Africa a renewed impetus to reform
> intra-African economic barriers and commitment to cross-border public
> infrastructure would assist in supporting growth of markets.
>
> While the raw statistics could not capture the magnitude of these
> adjustments, the numbers were nonetheless startling, he said.
>
> The World Bank estimated that 53-million more people would fall below
> the level of extreme poverty in 2009 and an additional 32-million people
> would lose their jobs in emerging countries in 2009.
>
> The ILO estimated that the global number of unemployed would increase
> from 190-million in 2007 to 210-million in 2009.
>
> Returning from the G20 meeting in London last week, Manuel said there
> were tentative indications of a recovery in the global economy.
>
> "But this is not just about a new direction in financial market trends;
> there are also deep-rooted structural imbalances and massively
> distressed institutions which will take considerable time to be
> resolved," he said.
>
> "We are fortunate in that there have not been major shocks to our
> banking system, and the institutional implementation of our fiscal
> response very largely builds on plans and capacity that is in place, and
> infrastructure projects that are in progress."
>
> To respond to the crisis, Manuel said that global macroeconomic
> imbalances needed to decline in size, and toxic assets needed to be
> written-off.
>
> "The first requires a rise in saving in debtor countries and a decline
> in saving in creditor countries, and higher world interest rates for
> some years.
>
> "The G20 has focused on stabilising the global financial system;
> countering the economic downturn; ensuring resources and means of
> preventing a collapse in developing economies, and securing an open and
> fair trade and finance system for the long-term," Manuel said. - Sapa
>
> http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-04-07-manuel-sees-silver-lining-in-global-c
> risis
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