Protectionism, regulation, recession and tomorrow’s world order were all covered in interviews with Lloyd’s chairman, Lord Levene, available here to view.
Lord Levene assessed the mood of the G20 leaders, saying that politicians showed unity and were sincere in their promises to avoid protectionism.
However, home events can distract from the rest of the world, he said, and that a wait-and-see attitude is sensible. The results of the current Doha round would be a good indicator of future domestic policy on international trade.
Lord Levene said that regulation needs to be effective, but shouldn’t choke activities. While an overarching framework of goals will be acceptable, he indicated that an ‘uber regulator’ with widespread powers is undesirable.
“The world order has changed,” he says in the interview. “It’s not a small club of a number of countries that were in it for a very long time, you have other countries that are coming in, China and India, who are major players and they are being recognised.”
