Global powers are unprepared for the next emergency

THE world's economic powerhouses are poorly equipped to deal with the next emergency. That's the main lesson from the latest recent confab of leading central bankers and finance ministers in Shanghai. Though fears about an imminent crisis look premature, the outbreak of bickering over fiscal and monetary policy doesn't bode well for the next downturn.

It's been years since a meeting of the Group of Twenty (G-20) developed and emerging economies led to substantial action. Expectations for the latest G-20 gathering were therefore low, and the participants duly delivered. Indeed, the two-day meeting in Shanghai's Pudong district served mainly to highlight deep global divides.

Take monetary policy. The selloff in global markets this year is at least partly based on the concern that ultra-low interest rates have lost their ability to stimulate growth and that central banks - in the latest iteration of the military metaphor - are out of ammunition.