Economy and Finance

Geopolitical Interests Dictate China's Global Aid Exports

BERLIN | KIEL, Germany (IDN) — China has been exporting aid goods worth around USD 835 million annually since 2017. These material resources are distributed by China primarily according to geopolitical interests and increasingly to Asia and Africa. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 meant that China gained political ground worldwide with medical aid supplies—especially face masks and vaccines. Recently, grain shipments to Africa, in particular, have been on the rise.

: Europe Editor; THE WORLD; Economy and Finance; 17 November 2022

Image credit: International Monetary Fund.

German Experts Study the Impact of Economic Sanctions Against Iran and Russia

By Jutta Wolf

BERLIN (IDN) — Researchers at the Institute for World Economy IfW Kiel and DIW Berlin have analysed the economic impact of jointly implementing punitive measures in the context of the 2012 Iran and 2014 Russia sanctions. They find that coalitions serve two crucial purposes—they not only magnify the economic cost imposed on the target but also reduce domestic costs for sanctioning states.

: Jutta Wolf; SUSTAINABILITY; Global Partnerships; 28 October 2022

Photo: BlackRock Headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City (cropped from top). CC BY-SA 3.0

Privatizing Sri Lanka ex-ante IMF Bailout of BlackRock

India's Adani Greenwash in Mannar and Pooneryn

Viewpoint by Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

COLOMBO (IDN) — The Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, was rocked again by massive protests against austerity measures imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which have been taking place since July 2022. Structural reforms with austerity have resulted in soaring inflation, currency depreciation, poverty and inequality that is eroding Argentine society and economy while enabling bail-out of private lenders and vulture funds like BlackRock.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 26 August 2022

Russia and the EU Continue Transition to Wartime Economies

Viewpoint by John P. Ruehl

This article was produced by Globetrotter. John P. Ruehl is an Australian-American journalist living in Washington, D.C. He is a contributing editor to Strategic Policy and a contributor to several other foreign affairs publications. He is currently finishing a book on Russia to be published in 2022.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Russia; 07 August 2022

Photo: Sri Lanka in crisis. Source: Daily Times

Sri Lanka Needs a Balanced Economic and Foreign Policy

Viewpoint by Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake *

COLOMBO (IDN) — A shortage of exorbitantly privileged American Dollars, the global reserve fiat currency, which is not backed by gold, silver, oil or drugs, is the purported reason for Sri Lanka's compounding crisis and the international media narrative of 'famine' in the country.

The financial crisis that has brought the strategic Indian Ocean Island nation to a standstill, which coincidentally stymies protests, originated with an International Sovereign Bond (ISB), debt trap and Default in April this year.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 07 July 2022

A New Coalition Issues a Statement on the Crisis in Sri Lanka

Southern Voices to be Heeded: A Call for Debt Justice, Debt Jubilee and Debt Cancellation

COLOMBO (IDN) — The Coalition for Economic Democracy in Sri Lanka (CEDSL) is a group of concerned academics, activists, agricultural, fisheries and industrial workers, students, businesspersons, trade unionists, and professionals based 'in country' and overseas, including the diaspora, who uphold the values of economic rights and justice in public policy making.