Can the Sustainable Development Goals be Realized in Africa?
Recently, world leaders gathered in New York to commit to the new sustainable development goals. For the first time, a specifically urban goal is among the 17 goals to reach by 2030.
Category: Markets
Brazil is this Week’s Emerging Markets Lowlight
1) The Brazilian central bank had a record monthly loss on its FX swap operations in September, 2) Also in Brazil, the impeachment process got a step closer, 3) Indonesia cuts energy prices and electricity tariffs for the industrial sector, 4) Vietnam’s central bank enacted new regulation to curb holdings of foreign currencies by businesses, 5) There were two policy initiatives from China during the holiday
Are Japan’s New Security Laws a Shift Away from Pacifist Ideals?
Japan’s new security laws, passed on 19 September, allow for limited forms of collective self-defence, have been described as a ‘move away from pacifism’, the opening of a ‘Pandora’s box’ and the ‘unsheathing of a new Japanese sword’. But considering the bill’s extreme limitations and significant domestic constraints — including a greying and shrinking population, mounting domestic debt and deeply embedded pacifist norms — one wonders how and why this narrative has taken root so deeply.
The Ideological Divide between Vietnam and the U.S.
On 7 July 2015, Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong met US President Barack Obama at the Oval Office, marking a historic milestone in advancing US–Vietnam relations. However, the trip was largely symbolic as Trong returned to Hanoi with only modest progress on comprehensive US–Vietnam relations. So, when eloquent rhetoric collides with hard logistics, what was the main roadblock in furthering US–Vietnam relations?
IMF Cuts Thai Economic Forecast
The International Monetary Fund projects that Thailand’s economy will expand by 2.5 percent in 2015, as the Southeast Asian country contends with military rule and a turbulent economy. The IMF also cut growth from 4.0 to 3.2 percent for 2016.
Imagine an EU without the UK
Europe is always a heated topic at a Conservative party conference. This year much debate has focused on David Cameron’s ongoing renegotiation of terms for staying in the EU. By contrast, the terms on which a Brexit might happen have garnered little attention. Those advocating it oscillate between – and often treat as interchangeable – quite different and incompatible scenarios.
The Reserve Bank of India’s Great Escape
Hyperinflation during the 1970s and 1980s relegated fiscal policy as the macroeconomic policy of last resort, ushering in the golden age of monetary policy. With Paul Volcker’s spectacular use of monetary policy to tame hyperinflation, which saw policy interest rates breach 20 percent and the Volcker recession, ‘independent’ central bankers came to be seen as the masters of macroeconomic policy.
China Really Wants the Yuan in the SDR
China’s markets re-opened after the extended national holiday today. Policymakers hit the ground running with two new initiatives. China’s own reform efforts likely drive the initiatives, but they will also enhance the likelihood that the yuan is included in the SDR.
China’s Markets Reopen Tomorrow
China’s markets closed at the end of September and re-open tomorrow. It is interesting to note what has happened in the global capital markets in the interim. The US dollar has fallen against all the major currencies, but the Japanese yen, which is off about 0.2%. Major equity markets are 3%-5% higher. US and Germany benchmark 10-year bond yields are up about 3 bp, though UK gilt yields are up 9 bp, with half of this gain being recorded today. Many industrial commodity prices are higher, with the price of Brent up a little more than 9%, and the CRB index is up 4%.
How Did Malaysian Manufacturing Fall So Far Behind?
Malaysia’s manufacturing sector is reversing to a state reminiscent of its post-colonial stage of development. Regrettably, this situation was avoidable.
When the Federation of Malaya gained independence from Britain in 1957, economic conditions were ripe for rapid and sustained growth. Its primary export sector was showing immense potential for expansion. Primary commodities — particularly tin ore and natural rubber — accounted for a third of Malaysia’s GDP and over 75 percent of exports by 1970, a legacy of its colonial past.
