COLOMBO — Economic growth must benefit a wide segment of society, even as in recent years, countries have become concerned about social equity, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong this morning (Nov 16) at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) at Colombo, Sri Lanka.
He urged countries to get some fundamentals right, and to go for sustainable development instead of heavy spending which has triggered debt.
Addressing delegates at the CHOGM retreat, which leaders of the 53 member states attended, he said: “Prosperity must result in better lives, jobs, living conditions, opportunities for all, or else the political consensus to support growth will fail.”
However, powerful global trends such as globalisation and technology have led to a widening income inequality, as wages of unskilled workers get suppressed and a minority with skills, talent and luck reap the rewards, said Mr Lee. This has led to a growing anxiety among the low income and increasingly among the middle-income as well, he added.
Mr Lee commented that equitable growth and inclusive development, also the themes of this year’s CHOGM, have become ‘recent buzzwords’.
“(They are) typically framed as new challenges, requiring new solutions, or occasionally as contradictory goals – can have either or, but not both, but reality is not so simple,”he said.
He urged countries to first set their imperatives – a healthy and growing economy and supporting international trade, a clean and competent government, and a focus on education and skills for the young.
Social safety nets must be strengthened to protect vulnerable groups, while public infrastructure for example health and housing must be improved. Innovative strategies to help the poor, for instance micro-financing, can also be done.
Mr Lee cited a few examples in the Commonwealth for having done some of this. Ghana and Uganda, for instance, have made tremendous strides in primary education, while Jamaica, Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago were commended by the World Bank for strengthening business environment and legal institutions.
However, he also observed that the approach in many countries is state welfare, but felt that is hard to translate into ‘real gains’.
“Heavy public spending has often not solved problems of unemployment and lack of competitiveness, the result is fiscal deficits and growing debt. (It is) one way in which countries fail to pursue sustainable development,”he commented.
Mr Lee said that sustainable growth is about “pursuing development strategies that sustain sound growth over the long-term, and not provide a transient, false sense of well-being through deficit spending, asset bubbles, or depleting natural resources”.
He said that the Commonwealth can help members to achieve growth with equity, such as by participating in the United Nations Open Working Group on Sustainable Development goals.
Singapore too is happy to share its experiences where useful, added Mr Lee, and indeed, it has trained more than 100,000 officials from more than 170 countries.
In the lead up to the summit, foreign ministers of Commonwealth countries had called for more inclusive policies that help small states to benefit from progress.
The three-day summit ends tomorrow.
BY TAN WEIZHEN
TodayOnline
16 Nove 2013
TodayOnline
16 Nove 2013
