UNITED NATIONS, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka on Thursday called on the international community to correct the defects of the existing world financial system in order to support sustainable economic development and international market stability.

The statement came as G.L. Peris, Sri Lankan minister of export development and international trade, was addressing the high-level UN meeting on the current world financial and economic crisis and its impact on development.

"Existing institutional mechanisms may not always be sufficient or effective in containing the volatility of financial market, coupled with the negative impact of globalization and the contagion effects of the crisis," the minister said. 

"It is unfortunate that the policy paradigms and the mandatory conditionality associated with the credit facilities of the international financial institutions are constraining access to financing," he said.

"Apart from economic considerations, other elements such as political perspectives are often brought into lending decisions, impeding the flow of resources," he said. "These weakness are also contributing to growing inequalities among countries, creating winners and losers." 

"These are systemic and practical defects of the existing international aid and financing architecture that need to be corrected," he said. 

"The correction of these defects also require fundamental reforms in the government framework in the Bretton Woods Institutions, in order to enable them to play a more positive role in supporting sustainable economic development and international market stability," he added.

Courtesy: dailymirror.lk