Several agendas of the G20 must be realized immediately, one of which is the food crisis mitigation effortsJakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's G20 Presidency must seek a solution and formulate a policy to mitigate the food crisis that may occur next year, Executive Director of the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS) Bhima Yudhistira stated.
"Several agendas of the G20 must be realized immediately, one of which is the food crisis mitigation efforts," he noted here on Saturday.
The G20 is an international forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union that work together to handle major issues. Indonesia is holding the presidency of the grouping this year.
According to Yudhistira, the G20 must handle the crisis, as countries cannot singlehandedly address food-related problems, and to this end, international collaboration is deemed necessary.
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He said one of the steps, as a solution to mitigate the food crisis, that the G20 could take is to reduce the food export protectionism policy.
In addition, the G20 can offer greater financing to the food sector and cut food distribution through infrastructure and digitization.
Apart from the food crisis, he noted that the G20 should promptly encourage the ease of cross-border digital payments and access for MSMEs to export products using digital platforms.
"The concept of regulation regarding 'MSMEs go digital' in G20 is quite positive," he stated.
He noted that in every global recession, several workers shift to the MSME sector. Thus, the sustainability of MSMEs must continue to be supported, including by the G20.
"Hence, MSMEs, as the backbone of the economy, must be prioritized in the G20 agenda," he said.
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Moreover, he addressed that to reduce inequality due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to avoid being further affected by the recession and food crisis, the G20 should immediately realize the international tax agenda in order to close the gap in tax avoidance between countries.
He explained that the cost of post-pandemic economic recovery and facing economic recession is quite high. Thus, tax justice is needed to cover the costs of stimulus and social protection.
"Global minimum tax is effective to prevent tax avoidance," he remarked.
Lastly, he noted that to reduce post-pandemic inequality, the G20 also needs to push for a wealth tax because Credit Suisse data showed that the number of rich people in Indonesia increased to 171 thousand, rising by 62 percent, amid the pandemic.
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Translator: Astrid Faidlatul, Raka Adji
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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