Dr. Shashi Tharoor dons many hats with equal élan – a Congress leader, a Member of Parliament representing the Thiruvananthapuram constituency, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, and a much acclaimed and awarded author. In an exclusive interview with The Dollar Business, Dr. Tharoor shares his views on the changing dynamics of global trade.
TDB: The current state of global trade is not very encouraging. What ails the world of trade?
Dr. Shashi Tharoor (ST): Today, there is a great deal of change in terms of trade. Before the global crisis of 2007, the flow of capital reached a record high of $9 trillion with a 16% share of the global economy. However, in 2014, the flow of capital stood at $1.2 trillion or 2% of the global economy – the same percentage that was there in 1980. So, in terms of numbers, the world has gone back decades and global trade has been growing at a pace slower than the global economy.
Meanwhile, in the developed world, populist objections have given rise to globalisation in its current avatar. For instance, China’s trade with its western partners has brought vast benefits to consumers in the west. But it is equally true that large numbers of workers in the west have lost their jobs in the process. The response from leaders has been increasing political denunciation of global trade, hostility – even violence – towards foreigners – and the imposition of austerity measures, which also tend to hurt the poor more.
The poor and the unemployed, who then see that they have no stake in the globalised system, demand to know why government policies benefit people in faraway lands with what used to be their jobs and want to go back to the security of older, more familiar economic ways and the comforts of traditional identity. Protectionist barriers have begun to go up in those very nations that had for years advocated the free flow of goods, labour and capital. It’s striking that so many polls now show declining support for trade in the developed countries whose companies and consumers have most profited from it.
TDB: Are global institutions like WTO & IMF relevant in their present form?
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June 2017 من The Dollar Business.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June 2017 من The Dollar Business.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
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