UNCTAD warns economic crisis

Venezueala: UNCTAD Secretary General Supachai Panitchpakdi, alerted here today that the world economic crisis is far from having touched bottom.

“There has only been a little freshening up, more than a correction, which should not deceive us, the world has not yet seen the end of the crisis,” he stressed.

During a regional seminar on Trade and Development organized by the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA in Spanish), the high official of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) warned about the need to be “very aware of this fact.”

Panitchpakdi said that in Latin America and the Caribbean and in Asia, the effects of the crisis have been felt in contrast with the 2007 financial crisis occurred in that last continent in 2007 “when the rest of the world did not suffer so much.”

He indicated markets have been allowed to operate as big casinos, even the markets of consumer articles. Without that speculation, he said, oil would not have reached prices over 90 dollars per barrel, but “due to speculation we saw prices rise substantially in 2007.” It was not only oil, but also cereals and other consumer products that rose overnight, he added.

During the SELA meeting held in the Venezuelan capital, the UNCTAD Secretary General said he was puzzled how in the last quarters the US dollar instead of depreciating it has become stronger.

The Dollar area is in debt, but the dollar keeps climbing, “all this because the funds are outside the United States (...) and have been cancelled and channeled to the economy” of that country, he said.

He pointed that the dollars returning to the United States is what caused this rise in the exchange rate, having a strong impact, specially on the financial system outside that nation.

Caracas, Prensa Latina