Global finance ministers and central bankers concluded three days of talks late Saturday with pledges of greater co-operation to avert another financial crisis, leaving uncertain how far they would go in changing their domestic policies in response to international pressures.
Singapore Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, head of the International Monetary Fund''s steering panel, said at a concluding news conference that all countries realised the importance of policy reform and better co-ordination as the global economy recovers from the worst economic downturn since World War II.
``Although we are in a better position than a year ago, there are significant vulnerabilities,'''' he told reporters. ``We are still in a fragile situation. We have to be extremely watchful.''''
IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said it would be critical for all nations to guard against complacency, especially in the face of new threats from higher oil and food prices, which were exacting a heavy toll on the world''s poorest nations.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick called the surge in food prices the biggest threat to the world''s poor, with 44 million more people being pushed into poverty over the past year because of higher prices.
``We are one shock away from a full blown crisis,'''' Zoellick said at a news conference wrapping up a meeting of the bank''s steering committee. Zoellick said the World Bank was pursing a variety of programs to provide support to poor countries struggling with high food costs.
But Max Lawson, a spokesman for Oxfam, the international aid advocacy group, criticised the finance officials for putting off any action on increased support until a meeting of G-20 agricultural ministers in June.
``Leaders today said the food crisis is desperately urgent, so urgent they will act on it ... in June. That''s 66 days away. Nearly half a million children will have died of hunger by then,'''' Lawson said.
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