Leaders warn they will suffer from mistakes and greed of rich countries

The leaders of South Africa, Brazil and India today blamed Western "speculators" for creating the financial crisis that endangered the development of the world's emerging economies - and called for reform of the institutions of global governance to reflect their growing economic clout. At a summit in the Indian capital, the three countries said they were reeling from the credit crunch–which they blamed on the mistakes and greed of the wealthier world. "We run the risk of being victims of a financial crisis generated by rich countries. This is unjust," said Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. "It is inadmissible that we'll pay for the irresponsibility of speculators that transformed the world into a gigantic casino. At the same time they gave us lessons on how we should govern our countries." Countries like Brazil and India, part of the so-called BRIC group of elite emerging markets, have been campaigning for more influence on global policies and for a seat at the high table of international decision-making. They say the "southern" nations need adequate representation in the citadels of power such as the United Nations security council and the Group of Eight industrialized countries. India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, said: "More than ever before a renewed effort to reform the institutions of international governance, our voice on how to manage this crisis in a way that does not jeopardize our development priorities, needs to be heard in international councils." All three nations have been flexing their muscles at the world trade talks–which were sunk two months ago after India and China refused to accept American demands over fears for food security. Both Brazil and South Africa are key mineral and agricultural exporters. The three nations had agreed in 2003 to hold regular meetings on how to promote the needs of emerging economies. The International Monetary Fund revealed forecasts last week that showed global growth would be kept afloat by the emerging economies. India will still see its economy manage 7.9% growth next year, down from 9.3%. However, this aggregate figure conceals a painful slowdown. Yesterday Jet Airways, India's biggest private carrier, announced it was "letting go" 1,900 staff and the government said it was looking to inject more cash into the markets. All three nations have seen strongly performing stock and currency markets slide as foreign investors, who fuelled emerging market booms, flee–pulling out money to meet liquidity needs in their home markets. In the last three months Brazil's currency the real has fallen by more than 30% against the dollar, the South African rand is down by 18% and the Indian rupee weakened by almost 12%. Even worse has been the collapse in equity valuations in the three economies. Brazil's stockmarket has lost more than 40% in the last three months–while both India and South Africa have seen shares in the main indices drop by a quarter. South Africa's president, Kgalema Motlanthe, said answers were still required about self-regulatory mechanisms "that we were told would obviate what has become an unmitigated disaster". "As a developing world we must accept that one-sided solutions ascribed to us by the developed world must be approached with a great deal of caution. They are not always the panacea they are held out to be," he said.