As G20 Finance Ministers start to gather in St Andrews today, Grahame Smith, STUC General Secretary said:
“Last year’s global financial crisis was the most dramatic since the great depression and yet we continue to await serious action to address the causes of the crisis. Continued inaction will condemn us to repeat the mistakes of the past.
“Therefore it is vital that the G20 Finance Ministers use these talks in St Andrews to make real progress towards a new fairer, more sustainable world financial order; one that puts people and planet first.
“Priorities should be effective regulation of the banking and shadow banking systems, fair and genuinely progressive taxation and continued reform of the international finance and development institutions to ensure that their actions support decent work and public services in developing nations.
“The Finance Ministers must also recognise that an early, poorly co-ordinated ‘exit strategy’ from the stimulus packages currently being implemented around the world will prove disastrous for stability and jobs. Indeed, there is a very strong case for extending these packages and targeting spending at the measures which will help to create jobs and hasten the transition to the low carbon economy which all G20 nations profess to desire”.
For further information contact: Stephen Boyd 0141 337 8100