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Sri Lanka’s new President Dissanayake is facing his first big test – rising rice prices. High import tariffs and a powerful rice mafia given to hoarding of the staple, are compounded by other market distortions. Can he balance urban consumer demands with rural farmer interests? Either way, his options are limited.
Courtesy: Vox
Since the 1980s, Argentina has witnessed repeated rounds of hyperinflation and recurring currency devaluations that made any forward-looking planning impossible. The new President, an outsider with unorthodox economic ideas, may finally enable the long embattled economy to break free from its troubled hyperinflationary past.
Courtesy: The Wall Street Journal
Javier Milei defied expectations when he won the Presidential election in Argentina earlier this month. The public are looking for early and rapid results that will bring the economy back on a steady keel, even through radical reform. But sectors of the entitled old guard have already announced it will oppose any change in the status quo.
Courtesy: The Week
To qualify for the IMF’s latest bailout, Pakistan has had to share accurate information on its economy including its debt to China. This confirms the speculation of Pakistan’s gigantic indebtedness to China.
Courtesy: Reuters
The Reserve Bank’s move to enable international trade in INR is a step towards regaining Indian primacy in the Indian Ocean region that the Indian Rupee once enjoyed. It is also an essential financial dimension that will add heft to India’s strategic SAGAR policy.
Courtesy: Telegraph India
India has raised import duty on gold yet again. This will drive gold smuggling, whose nearly 16% return on investment therefrom will make hedge funds envious. Apart from loss of revenue, smuggling also means greater cash flows for the underworld, and potential terror finance.
Courtesy: Reuters
Falling birth rates have become a concern for the Chinese regime. Add to it a shrinking external footprint, diminishing prospects for new foreign capital and domestic economic trouble in the tech and real estate sector, and China's vulnerabilities are clear. This signals danger for China's neighbours.
Courtesy: Fair Planet
China recently celebrated 40 years since it began its successful poverty reduction effort, at a conference in Beijing. While lauding China's efforts, experts do recognise that different formulations work for different countries
Courtesy: Forum 2000
The Forum 2000 conference in Prague last week was an occasion to reflect on the challenges facing democracy in an economically globalised, but socially fragmented, West.
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The GST will not only advance domestic market efficiencies but also add teeth to India’s economic diplomacy by improving the ease of doing business and enhancing competitiveness for exports.