Commentary The Bretton Woods Agreement came into effect in 1944, laying the foundations for a new international monetary system. With the agreement came the creation of two new organizations. The first was the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an institution (ostensibly) designed to secure international monetary cooperation. The second institution, the World Bank Group, played a key role…
Erik Bethel: China’s New Digital Currency Is Tool for Mass Control, in China and Beyond
China’s new digital currency is a Trojan horse “disguised as a payment mechanism,” says Erik Bethel, a global finance professional who served as the U.S. representative to the World Bank. “There are a lot of ways that the Chinese government could use this as an instrument of surveillance, tying it to their social credit score,…
China’s Economy to Grow at the Second-Slowest Pace in 3 Decades: World Bank Forecast
China’s economy has “cooled rapidly” and will slump further over the next year, according to World Bank forecasts. The World Bank on Dec. 22 said it expects China’s inflation-adjusted GDP to grow at 8 percent, lowering from a projection of 8.5 percent in June. It further cut the country’s growth forecast for next year to…
Fiscal Pressures Rise Amid Bloated Debt Levels, OECD Warns
The coronavirus pandemic may have contributed to soaring public debt levels, leaving many governments facing fiscal pressures in the coming decades, the OECD warned in a new report Tuesday. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s economic outlook to 2060, governments worldwide must grapple with the costs of repaying debt generated to support…
Analysis: Supply Chains, Inflation Overshadow Vaccine, Debt Woes at IMF-World Bank Meetings
WASHINGTON—Supply chain woes and growing inflation concerns pushed aside a widening gap in COVID-19 vaccinations and mounting debt problems for developing countries as the top concerns for global policymakers at International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings this week. Relatively little new progress was made on increasing vaccine supplies to developing countries, although officials…
IMF Chief Georgieva Says Data-Rigging Scandal Won’t Hamper IMF-World Bank Cooperation
WASHINGTON—International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva on Wednesday distanced herself and the fund from a data-rigging scandal involving her former employer, the World Bank, but said she did not expect the saga to hamper decades of close collaboration between the two institutions. Georgieva, who was cleared of wrongdoing in the matter by the IMF’s executive…
Yellen Calls for ‘Strong Action’ to Boost Data Integrity at IMF, World Bank
WASHINGTON—U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday called for “strong action” by international financial institutions to boost accountability, protect data integrity, and prevent misconduct in the wake of a World Bank data-rigging scandal. Yellen, in a statement to the steering committee of the International Monetary Fund, also called for moves by international financial institutions to…
World Bank Warns of ‘Tragic Reversals’ in Developing Countries Due to COVID-19
Some of the world’s poorer countries have seen “tragic reversals in development” during the COVID-19 pandemic, World Bank Group president David Malpass said on Monday. In a speech at a media roundtable during the 2021 annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group, Malpass said that development progress in some countries…
Poor Countries’ Debt Rose 12 Percent to Record $860 Billion in 2020: World Bank
WASHINGTON—The debt burden of the world’s low-income countries rose 12 percent to a record $860 billion in 2020 as countries responded to the COVID-19 crisis with massive fiscal, monetary, and financial stimulus packages, the World Bank said in a report released Monday. World Bank President David Malpass said the report showed a dramatic increase in…
China’s GDP Is Impressive but It’s Also a Lie
Commentary Although China appears to have had an impressive first half of 2021, appearances, as we all know, are incredibly deceptive. After all, if the country’s economy is as impressive as we have been led to believe, then why is it failing hundreds of millions of its citizens? If I were to ask you the…
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