UN calls for a 'New Global Deal' to address inequality

Addis Ababa, September 14. A new report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) calls for a 'Global New Deal' to build more inclusive,
sustainable and caring economies.
The three R’s original deal New Deal in the 1930s are as relevant
today – combining economic Recovery with Regulatory reforms and
Redistribution policies, according to  UNCTAD’s Trade and Development
Report 2017 (TDR 2017) launched today in Addis Ababa.
Good lessons can be obtained from the previous successful global deals
that followed the World War II such as, the Marshal Plan, the
establishment of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World
Bank, according to the report.
“We received your message on global new agenda for the 21st century
global economic recovery, reform and redistribution,” said Ambassador
Albert M. Muchanga, Commissioner for Trade and Development at the
African Union, commenting on UNCTAD’s report at the African Union Hall
this morning.
“We are not too hopeful here. This is because the key players in the
global economy are either not sending out clear messages on the future
direction of the global economy or promising us isolationism,” he
said, indicating that the world faces complex barriers to promoting
broad-based inclusion in the development process.
“For many people and countries, the ladder of development is
increasingly becoming difficult to climb as a result of those
barriers. In some countries, women are facing the brunt of exclusion
from employment on account of job rationing. With some aspects of
globalization in retreat; with some economists already coming up with
the term ‘physical de-globalization’ to describe this retreat, we have
a huge task ahead in creating a new global deal for the 21st Century,”
the Commissioner added.
The report stated that wrong footed macroeconomic policy and corporate
rent-seeking behavior, as well as the emergence of smarter robots,
among others are signaling for the need for a Global New Deal.
Hyper-globalization has fueled a significant rise in restrictive
business practices and the rents such practices generate have led to
rising inequality in a winner takes most world, according to TDR 2017.
“For us in Africa, we welcome initiatives to create a fairer and
inclusive world order. But we are in the meantime, going ahead in
creating our own future. We are inter-alia, harnessing our demography
as a source of competitiveness by investing in our youth since Africa
has the youngest population in the world,” Commissioner Muchanga said.