These days, the need to dictate power and authority are mostly associated with forming strategic alliances in all forms. In the global world of finance, economy or politics following an old adage: ‘birds of the same feathers flocks together,’ seem to be a common practice.
From G7 to G20: How it happened?
Ever wondered about the informal gathering of heads, that once started and named the G7’s then the G8’s, and finally to what we call it today, the G20 countries? Would there be any differences in the increment of these numbers?
Let me put it metaphorically, in a form of a short story concerning the morphing of the G7’s to the G20 countries; imagine the group of G8 countries as a fishing boat in the middle of the Ocean. One fine day, the fishermen of that G7 boat got a shock of their lives when they have seen a great white shark for the first time. They thought to themselves that, it would be totally impossible to catch and bring that shark onto their boat, as it may topple it.
Hence, the G7 crew decided to switch to a bigger boat that would house more space and equipment to accommodate the capture of that Shark they have just seen. The G7 countries were once thought to be made of the world’s most advanced economies, but that shark was China, so they needed more countries to now form a coalition with the ‘shark,’ not against it. But why? Well, perhaps it’s another old saying ‘If you cannot beat them, then join them.’ That is the story of how the G20 came about. But you may then ask, what have the G20 countries got to do with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)?
Ties binding G20 & IMF
Before we even talk about the IMF, those woken up on the 1st of October 2016 may have not found anything noticeably different. Correct? Like you and me till date would still have the so called ‘greenbacks’ in your pocket, some of you may still be paid in dollars, and it still be worth something.
