By Vitor Gaspar, Marcos Poplawski-Ribeiro, Jiae Yoo* WASHINGTON, D.C. 16 September 2023 (IDN) — The global debt burden retreated for the second year in a row, even though it remains above its already-high pre-pandemic level, according to the latest update of our Global Debt Database. The total debt stood at 238 percent of global gross […]
The World Must Come Together to Address Global Challenges
By Kristalina Georgieva and Ajay Banga Following are excerpts from the Joint Statement issued by Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank, on 7 September 2023. WASHINGTON, DC. 8 September 2023 (IDN) — The world confronts significant economic challenges, the existential threat of climate […]
Sri Lanka Back as Donor Darling Ignores the BRICS
France’s Macron and the US Fish in the Indian Ocean By Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake* COLOMBO. 23 August 2023 (IDN) — Sri Lanka continues to swing wildly between being a ‘Donor Darling’ flooded with foreign ‘aid’ and ‘advisors’ on the one hand to a ‘bankrupt’ pariah or outcast on the other. Last year, the strategic Indian Ocean […]
Geopolitical Interests Dictate China’s Global Aid Exports
By Kiel Institute for the World Economy 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 […]