Leaders of several world powers that have been hit hard by the current economic meltdown are looking for help from oil exporting countries and sovereign funds the world over to replenish their empty coffers.
Oil exporters and sovereign funds are forced to assist the major powers and pump money into their stock markets. However, I wonder what would have been the plight of the petroleum exporters if they were at the receiving end of the crisis.
It is not yet time to forget the painful experiences of 1997 when the Asian tigers and petroleum producing countries were hit by a serious economic crisis. The Europeans and Americans were then standing like spectators unmindful of the sufferings of other nations. The International Monetary Fund had offered its willingness to help them out, but with conditions that looked more like an attempt to further destabilize their ailing economies rather than efforts to rescue them.
On the other hand, the countries that refused to accept IMF help in 1997 regained their strength in a short time and are now capable of helping others.
If the present situation were like 1997 and the oil producers and Asian countries were the victims of the current crisis, the world powers would have offered them assistance with debilitating conditions such as the total opening up of their domestic markets to be exploited by developed countries. They would have also prescribed harsh measures such as minimum expenditure on vital national projects and austerity measures to balance the budget and check inflationary trends.
The developed countries would also have started to meddle in the internal affairs of the poor countries and dictate political policies. It is also a practice of Europeans and Americans to bring up accusations of violations of human rights and minority rights against developing countries when it serves their goals of political and economic hegemony.
On the contrary, when the oil price plummeted to the bottom level in the middle of the 80s, advanced countries enjoyed all its benefits to the maximum. These countries also placed extremely tough conditions on oil producers to receive aid from international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF. On the other hand, recently, when oil prices soared high, the advanced countries accused the oil producers of being responsible for the international crisis and causing an increase in inflation.
In fact, the global economy is, particularly in the modern times, closely knitted and complementary, and so, any economic upheaval in any part of the world would make an impact on all of the other parts of the world and economic environments. And the responsibility would have to be borne by all as no single party could be blamed for it.
Perhaps the present crisis is an opportunity for the world as a whole to identify the vulnerable and strong points of the global economy. The advanced economies get an opportunity to realize that they are not exempted from crises. The big powers should also realize that the world stabilizes only with the cooperation, sacrifice and ethical practices of all. Use of force, arrogance and unilateral dictations cannot help in any way.
