Pragmatic policies needed to counter backlash against globalisation

AMID the widespread backlash against globalisation, it is reassuring to witness influential voices speaking up in its favour.

During the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, which concluded in Washington over the weekend, a number of high-ranking officials mounted a robust defence of globalisation. IMF managing director Christine Lagarde warned that a retreat from globalisation and multilateralism was "a serious risk when international cooperation and coordination are as critical as ever".

Jose Angel Gurria, secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, suggested that globalisation is "like oxygen" and should not be blamed for economic and social ills. Contrasting the varied experience of different countries, Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam pointed out that "far too much is being made of the impact of globalisation on equality, on social cohesion, on a variety of things, and not enough has been made about domestic policy failure". At the meetings of the G-20 in Chengdu, China in July, financial leaders also signalled their concern about the anti-globalisation wave.