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’World Bank joins the gloomfest
From the World Bank’s latest global economic outlook (emphasis ours):
While contained for the moment, the risk of a much broader freezing up of capital markets and a global crisis similar in magnitude to the Lehman crisis remains.
The WTO dividend
You can say what you want about the achievements of the WTO; it sure is nice to be part of the club.
Certainly that is what the Kremlin will be thinking this morning after Russia cleared the final hurdle to joining the 153-nation trade organisation after 17 years of trying.
An Egyptian diaspora bond?
Remittances are a fascinating and oft neglected slither of global capital markets.
Flows are inherently difficult to measure but the World Bank estimates ‘developing’ countries received in excess of $300bn in 2009 and 2010 — around three times more than official aid flows.
Table du jour: world food price menu
In the latest Food Price Watch, the World Bank reports that its food price index climbed 15 per cent between October and January, driven largely by “increases in the price of sugar (20%), fats and oils (22%),
And the Oscar for ‘best supporting C.banker’ goes to…
First, it was Robert Zoellick.
And now former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan is at it.
Both have been and still are ruffling feathers in the FX market with relatively provocative commentary.
Renminbi revaluation: it’s a world war out there
…To judge from the international institutions which were shoved into the fray over RMB appreciation on Wednesday, including the World Bank and UNCTAD. At least it means the debate is now getting to the broader problem — imbalances.
Why Asia may shake off an S&P correction
The risk of the biggest US equities correction since the March low on the S&P500 has increased over the past week — but Asian economies, after a comparatively resilient year, are better placed than usual to resist an S&P-correlated correction,
Asset bubble warnings, international monetary institution edition
Another day, another global asset bubble warning.
This time it comes courtesy of the World Bank’s chief economist for the East Asia & Pacific region, Vikram Nehru, who cautioned on Wednesday that risks to a sustainable recovery in the region still remain strong,
Countries spar over World Bank
The World Bank’s big shareholder governments sparred on Monday at their meeting in Istanbul over a request for up to $5bn in new equity to support lending to middle-income countries even as they praised its efforts to fight the crisis.
World Bank to buy distressed assets
The World Bank group is set to launch a $5.5bn initiative to raise funds to buy distressed assets from banks in emerging and developing markets, in a push to clean up their balance sheets and boost credit flows.
On the (de)merits of small banks in developing countries
Over at the Economist’s Free exchange blog, a handful of top-flight economists (as one would expect) have been engaged in a lively debate on the optimal size and complexity of developing countries’ financial systems.
A little case of international org schizophrenia
The World Bank on Monday warned the recession will be deeper than previously forecast:
June 22 (Bloomberg) — The World Bank said the global recession this year will be deeper than it predicted in March and warned that a flight of capital from developing nations will swell the ranks of the poor and the unemployed.
External debt shrinkage
Some interesting trends are emerging in the land of external debt figures. The latest international banking statistics from the BIS released Wednesday showed banks’ external claims shrank by 5.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2008 to $31,000bn.
Zoellick urges EU on eastern Europe
Robert Zoellick, World Bank president, has urged the EU to lead co-ordinated global support for the economies of central and eastern Europe, even as divisions emerge in the EU over handling the crisis.
G20: Concordia discors
There were high expectations – a new Bretton Woods no less. Others said nothing would be achieved without Barack Obama in presidential office. So what did this weekend’s G20 meeting actually decide, if anything?
FT columnist Clive Crook notes with curiosity just how little attention was paid to the summit by the media: