FTT

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso promised today he would announce an extra €1 billion for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at a major UN summit in New York later this month.

A broad coalition of NGOs, political organizations and trade unions today (7 September), called on EU Finance Ministers to recognize the merits of an European-wide Financial Transaction Tax (FTT), particularly as austerity measures begin to be felt throughout the EU.

A global bank tax to help poor countries survive the economic crisis must be urgently agreed, Oxfam said today ahead of the G20 meeting of finance ministers in Busan, South Korea.

Poor countries are being forced to cut back on their economic crisis-response spending too soon. Education and social protection budgets are particularly badly affected. Oxfam is calling on the IMF to take steps to reverse this trend.

The fact that the IMF is proposing that adaptation efforts are funded by grants rather than loans is positive. But this will only work if developed countries ensure the money is there to resource this vital assistance to vulnerable countries.