Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown has urged world leaders to form a temporary global government or taskforce to combat the ongoing health and economic crises due to COVID-19.
The 69-year-old, who has the experience of tackling the near-meltdown of the banks in 2008, said we need a global taskforce that involves leaders, medical experts, and the heads of international organizations across the world to coordinate the response.
Brown said it would be preferable if we include the UN security council. He said, “This is not something that can be dealt with in one country. There has to be a coordinated global response.”
The former leader of the Labour Party said the ongoing crisis is much bigger than the one he was involved in.
He said, “That was an economic problem that had economic causes and had an economic solution. This is first and foremost a medical emergency and there has to be joint action to deal with that. But the more you intervene to deal with the medical emergency, the more you put economies at risk.”
He tackled the financial crisis by persuading other global leaders of the need to bail out the banks. He then hosted a meeting of the G20 in London, leading to a $1.1tn rescue package.
Brown explained that the global taskforce would fight the crisis on two fronts. There will be a coordinated effort to find a vaccine and to organize its development, production, purchasing, and prevent profiteering.
He also explained that the global taskforce would help “coordinate central banks, take steps to prevent the record flight of capital from emerging market economies, and agree on a joint approach to the use of government spending to boost growth.”
“We need some sort of working executive,” Brown said.
“If I were doing it again, I would make the G20 a broader organization because in the current circumstances you need to listen to the countries that are most affected, the countries that are making a difference and countries where there is the potential for a massive number of people to be affected – such as those in Africa,” he added. Brown continued, “The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund needed an increase in their financial firepower to cope with the impact of the crisis on low- and middle-income countries.”
