IMF
Sri Lanka’s deep debt bind
Sri Lanka today exists in a no man’s land between debt restructure and default. In late June, the government released its proposed domestic debt restructure deal, which in turn…
Scrapping IMF surcharges is key to cutting debt burden on distressed nations
More than 50 countries, composing half of the world’s poorest people, are facing severe debt distress. “Crisis” might be an overused term in global politics, but surely this…
Economic diplomacy: Duelling D-words to delineate China
Risky business
For the leader-in-waiting from a small, risk averse country, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong was remarkably quick last month to smack down the…
Taming international capital flows
As said of tastes in clothes or music, fashion trends always come back into vogue. So too, it seems, with conventional wisdom on international capital flows. After years allowing…
International debt: Time for a global restructuring framework
Just about every country has rules and practices to sort out domestic bankruptcies, dividing up the surviving assets between the creditors on an equitable basis, writing off the…
Economic diplomacy: Counting the cost of decoupling
Members only
Indonesia took one for the team in an era of minilaterals and “friendshoring” last week when it argued the case for its poorest neighbours to join the latest…
Economic diplomacy: Arming up for war and trade
Guns AND butter
It took a Second World War general-turned-president in Dwight Eisenhower to provide one of the most evocative articulations of the classic government spending…
China’s growth prospects after zero-Covid
China’s economy has had a tough time of late. The strict lockdowns associated with the earlier zero-Covid policy and Beijing’s subsequent messy reversal saw economic growth…
Economic diplomacy: Diversification is hard to do
Catching up
It is now 25 years since then World Bank senior vice-president and chief economist Joseph Stiglitz remarkably turned on his employer to set out a roadmap for …
Economic diplomacy: The IMF faces a US$ reality check
Back to basics
When the International Monetary Fund kicked off its latest twice-yearly meetings with blunt criticism of the fiscal policies of the new British government it…