Fears About Emerging Economies to Dominate G20

Several emerging economies are facing major struggles, say experts.

Their economic troubles will dominate the G20 Summit of the world’s richest nations in Turkey next week, they say.

The Group of 20 Summit is a top forum for the leaders of the largest economies to discuss important global issues.

Andrew Kenningham is a consultant at Capital Economics in London. He said Russia is suffering the most of emerging economies.

Russia’s economy “is contracting by maybe 5 percent this year,” he says. It is struggling with the collapse in oil prices and sanctions set by Western nations after Russia annexed Crimea. Poor governance is another factor.

This “has made it extremely difficult for businesses to operate there,” Kenningham added.

The G20 Summit will focus on China, too. Official economic growth in China has slowed to less than 7 percent. This caused a sell-off in the stock market and pushed down oil prices. But Kenningham said the fears are exaggerated.

“The equity market did collapse,” he said, “but there has been a bubble beforehand, and it’s not really very strongly connected to actual growth in the economy.”

China also said this week it wants the G20 to reform the voting rights at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). China says it wants a larger role. The IMF is an organization of 188 countries, working to increase global economic growth and promote international trade.

Olivia Gippner works at the London School of Economics. She said the Chinese “are underrepresented dramatically” in IMF voting. The U.S. has about 16 percent of the share. China has 4 percent. India has 3 percent, and Brazil has 2 percent, Gippner added.

These numbers “don’t reflect the current economic system anymore at all.”

Gippner added that climate change will be a key topic at the G20 Summit, because the Paris climate summit is in December.

Turkey is another emerging economy that is struggling. John Kirton is founder and co-director of the G20 Research Group at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs.

“Terrorism in the Middle East, primarily, and the Syrian refugee crisis—they’re going to be dealt with by the leaders at the dinner, where they meet alone and can deal in a more flexible fashion,” Kirton told VOA.

The upcoming G20 Summit will take place in the seaside resort of Antalya, Turkey on November 15-16. The key objectives of the meeting will be to strengthen the global recovery, enhance resilience and build sustainability, reported G20.org.

Together, these economies represent 85 percent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP). GDP is the main way to measure the size of a country's economy. It represents the total value of all goods and services produced over a specific period of time.

China takes over the rotating presidency of the G20 in 2016. Analysts say Beijing will probably find its own economy is the major focus of many fellow members.

I’m Mary Gotschall.

Henry Ridgwell reported on this story for VOANews.com. Mary Gotschall added additional reporting and adapted this story for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

Do you have an opinion about this topic? Let us know what you think in the Comments section below, or on our Facebook page.