APEC Ministers Might Press OPEC for More Oil
September 10, 2000 - 0:0
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN Finance ministers from Pacific rim nations began a two-day meeting on Saturday to get the diverse regional grouping back on track even as soaring global crude oil prices threatened to steal the limelight.
"One of the main issues on the agenda is to enhance the credibility and effectiveness of the APEC finance ministers' process," a Southeast Asian Finance Ministry official told Reuters.
"But many members have raised the issue of high oil prices though it was not formally on the agenda," he said.
APEC finance deputies, who prepared the agenda for the ministerial meeting, said it might formally urge the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to raise crude output to combat high global oil prices.
Officials from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank attending the meetings have expressed concern that oil prices currently at 10-year highs could derail recovery in Asian economies.
It is expected to decide to raise output by about 700,000 barrels a day, although oil traders doubt that volume would be adequate to cool the oil price.
The lineup for APEC's seventh annual meeting of finance ministers being held in the oil-rich kingdom of Brunei include Japanese Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa and U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers.
Summers, speaking to reporters on his way to the meeting, said that Asia's economies had staged an impressive recovery from the financial crisis of 1997-99. But he cautioned them not to get complacent.
"There has clearly been considerable repair and improvement in the Asian economies over the last year, and I think in general, the fact that we'll get more rapid global growth this year than in any year this decade, has to be an encouraging sign," Summers said.
"But structural reforms are particularly important in a number of economies as well," he added.
APEC finance ministers are expected to reaffirm their political commitment to economic reforms in a communique at the end of their meeting today.
"APEC is a forum where everybody has to commit to a certain level of reform measures otherwise the future of APEC will be in doubt," a senior Brunei Finance Ministry official told Reuters.
"The issue of globalization and reform of the global financial system is a part of this process," he said.
Investors say many Asian nations, basking in the glow of their stunning economic rebound, are delaying tougher microeconomic reforms in banking and corporate sectors.
APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
(Reuter)
"One of the main issues on the agenda is to enhance the credibility and effectiveness of the APEC finance ministers' process," a Southeast Asian Finance Ministry official told Reuters.
"But many members have raised the issue of high oil prices though it was not formally on the agenda," he said.
APEC finance deputies, who prepared the agenda for the ministerial meeting, said it might formally urge the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to raise crude output to combat high global oil prices.
Officials from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank attending the meetings have expressed concern that oil prices currently at 10-year highs could derail recovery in Asian economies.
It is expected to decide to raise output by about 700,000 barrels a day, although oil traders doubt that volume would be adequate to cool the oil price.
The lineup for APEC's seventh annual meeting of finance ministers being held in the oil-rich kingdom of Brunei include Japanese Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa and U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers.
Summers, speaking to reporters on his way to the meeting, said that Asia's economies had staged an impressive recovery from the financial crisis of 1997-99. But he cautioned them not to get complacent.
"There has clearly been considerable repair and improvement in the Asian economies over the last year, and I think in general, the fact that we'll get more rapid global growth this year than in any year this decade, has to be an encouraging sign," Summers said.
"But structural reforms are particularly important in a number of economies as well," he added.
APEC finance ministers are expected to reaffirm their political commitment to economic reforms in a communique at the end of their meeting today.
"APEC is a forum where everybody has to commit to a certain level of reform measures otherwise the future of APEC will be in doubt," a senior Brunei Finance Ministry official told Reuters.
"The issue of globalization and reform of the global financial system is a part of this process," he said.
Investors say many Asian nations, basking in the glow of their stunning economic rebound, are delaying tougher microeconomic reforms in banking and corporate sectors.
APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
(Reuter)