The South Korean government on Monday announced the creation of a $1.35 billion fund that will help low-income households restructure or repay overdue loans, the Associated Press reported.
Leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) are expected to give the go-ahead for the creation of a common Development Bank – rivalling the IMF and the World Bank – during their joint summit in Durban on March 26-27, claimed several reports over the weekend.
According to the Wall Street Journal, citing a Brazilian official, the new bank could launch with a starting capital of $ 50 billion, with each of the five countries contributing an equal $10 billion share.
India’s government will unveil its shale gas policy within the next two weeks, said oil minister Veerappa Moily on Sunday, with the world’s fourth largest oil consumer hoping to reduce its energy imports and rein in a widening current account deficit.
Moily, who was speaking in New Delhi, said that the government saw shale gas as a “game changer”; and pointed to how the U.S. was gradually cutting its gas imports to demonstrate the potential of shale.
China’s growth is likely to accelerate this year and next even as it navigates a fragile global recovery, but a “renewed reform momentum” is necessary if the world’s second largest economy is to sustain vigorous and socially inclusive growth over the longer run, said the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Expansionary central bank policies have, in recent months, helped investors shrug off troubling political uncertainties in order to spark a recovery in global financial markets. Nonetheless, some have called the market rally “one of the most unloved” in history – as any fresh geopolitical shock or political breakdown could negate central bank efforts’; and send financial markets once more down a spiral.
The Indonesian economy could grow to be among the world’s top ten largest by 2025 if more investments are placed in manufacturing, infrastructure development and urbanisation, said a report by Citi Research on Thursday, noting a 128 percent jump in foreign direct investment from 2009-2012.
Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt on Thursday urged the Indian government to invest more in fast-speed Internet connectivity across the country, highlighting that just 20 million users had access to high-speed broadband – out of an estimated 130 million Internet subscribers in a population of 1.2 billion people.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday said it would keep its stimulus policies in place until it is convinced that recent gains and improvements in the economy can be sustained organically without assistance from policymakers.
In a statement after a two-day meeting, the Fed said it would leave the pace of asset purchases unchanged at $85 billion a month, until it sees signs of a long-term improvement in unemployment levels.
This where we stand, and it’s a fairly bleak view: Peak oil is almost here, and nothing new (with the possible but unlikely exception of Iraq) is coming online anytime soon and while the clock is ticking – forward movement on developing renewable energy resources has been sadly inadequate. In the meantime, the idea that shale reservoirs will lead the U.S. to energy independence will soon enough be recognized as unrealistic hype. There are no easy solutions, no viable quick fixes, and no magic fluids.
The shrinking ice caps in the Arctic may have opened a new shipping route worth up to $700 billion between China, Europe and the U.S. by 2020, said a leading Chinese scientist last week, with a shipping firm expected to launch China’s first commercial arctic voyage this year – cutting travel distance by nearly half.
