Barbados PM Calls For Global Financial Reform

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

04 April 2002

It has emerged that during the Monterrey Conference on Financing for Development, which concluded late last month, the Barbadian Prime Minister, Owen Arthur, called for radical reform of the international financial system.

Speaking at the Mexico meeting, Mr Arthur argued that the financial needs of an increasingly globalised world cannot be adequately catered for, or regulated, by a system designed more than 50 years ago.

He observed that the conference had presented the global community with the opportunity, similar to that afforded by the Bretton Woods conference, to conceive an entirely new international financial system, but stated that in his opinion, the Consensus of Monterrey had not gone far enough, and represents a work in progress, rather than an end to discussions on the issue.

'Radical institutional changes often appear impossible, until after they happen, at which point they seem predestined,' he explained.

The Barbadian Prime Minister also warned that discussions must continue on proposals raised during the meeting, such as the creation of a rules-based world financial authority to supervise international financial and capital markets, and the development of an international tax organisation to oversee global cooperation in cross border tax matters, and that plans for global reform must not be allowed to fade away.

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