South-east Asia: Myanmar at a crossroads?
Myanmar is an enigma. Listed in international statistics as the poorest country in Asia and one of the poorest among the world's 49 least developed countries (LDCs), and politically ostracised because of its continuous record of human rights violations, the self-imposed insulation and the externally created isolation of the country lead to many misconceptions.
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Nationalist neo-liberalism: Orbán's risky gamble
Hungary's centre-right government introduces a flat income tax of 16% and a very low taxation of small and medium enterprises. The government claims that this would kick-start economic growth. One would expect that the neo-liberal pundits are overjoyed that Hungary joins their camp. However, this is not the case.
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The shifting global poverty reduction agenda
2010 has been a remarkable year. There is triumphalism around the perception of a quick recovery from the 2008/9 financial and economic crisis - a triumphalism which focuses blindly on GDP growth and is oblivious to the catastrophic levels of old and new unemployment. At the same time, however, there is a notable countermovement.
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Persistent uncertainties in the global recovery
The recovery of the world economy has started to lose momentum since the middle of 2010, and all indicators point at weaker global economic growth, according to an upcoming United Nations report, titled World Economic Situation and Prospects 2011.
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The strange outcome of the Cancún climate summit
The United Nations' Cancun climate conference which adopted a text early on 11 December 2010 had a strange outcome. It was acclaimed by many for reviving the spirit of multilateralism in the climate change system, while others accused it of falling far short, or even going backwards, in controlling the Greenhouse Gas emissions.
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Making the case for progressive universalism
"Social security is a human right as well as a social and economic necessity." That is the programmatic opening sentence of the ILO's World Social Security Report. The Report conceptualises social security as a factor in alleviating poverty, in helping cope with risks, and in adapting to changing economic, political, demographic and societal circumstances.
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On the road to "climate-smart agriculture"
A roadmap to "climate-smart agriculture" was designed for agriculture ministries of both developed and developing countries who met at the Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change. The FAO is thus preparing the ground for a UNFCCC decision to move towards including soils in the carbon markets.
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Ireland: The implosion of a miracle
Three years ago, Ireland was still presented as an economic miracle well founded on the neo-liberal policies of low corporate taxation and lax banking regulation. Today, the miracle is in shambles. Relatively high growth rates had been grounded.
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Declining and privatizing: German aid under Niebel
Germany's Deutsche Welthungerhilfe and terre des hommes have just published their new report on "The Reality of Development Aid". Against the backdrop of smooth tongued declarations by the BMZ, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, it explores the new priority set on cooperation with the private sector.
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G20 at the crossroads: Clash or cooperation?
Two years ago, the G20 announced their shared ambition: to manage the global economic crisis more efficiently and more transparently than the old industrialized nations (G8), and to prevent further financial market crises or economic downturns. Only two years later, the G20 now stands at a crossroads.
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The failure of the International Monetary Fund
Again, the only big winner of the recent G20 Seoul Summit seems to be the International Monetary Fund. The G20 approved the changes in the IMF's governance, expanded several IMF lending programs and empowered the Fund to help address global imbalances.
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Towards the Seoul Development Agenda
The G20 has recently set up a working group on development and will adopt a comprehensive development agenda at the November Summit in Seoul. It might come as a surprise that the G20, which was indeed set up to manage the way out of the world financial and economic crisis at the level of the heads of state, now wishes to address questions of development.
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Christine Lagarde: French priorities for the G20
France will assume the 12-month rotating presidency of the G20 in November. Christine Lagarde, Minister for Economy, Industry and Employment of France, at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Foundation in Washington discussed the country's priorities for the presidency.
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FAT versus FTT: How the EU is manoeuvring
The European Commission has just released another official communication on the Taxation of the Financial Sector. The main message is: Europe should strive for a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) at global level, whereas at European level preference should be given to a Financial Activities Tax (FAT).
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Labour market recession threats social outlook
A new report by the research arm of the International Labour Organization (ILO) says a long "labour market recession" is worsening the social outlook in many countries. The study, World of Work Report 2010 - from one crisis to the next?, says that, if current policies persist, a recovery in employment to pre-crisis levels will be delayed until 2015.
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Venezuelan economy: Media get it wrong, again
The bulk of the media often gets pulled along for the ride when the United States government has a serious political and public relations campaign around foreign policy. But almost nowhere is it such monolithic as with Venezuela.
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Multilateral aid: IFIs up - UN agencies down
The OECD has just released the 2010 DAC Report on Multilateral Aid. The report highlights that although the percentage of Official Development Assistance (ODA) given through multilateral institutions remains stable overall, the share of funds disbursed by the UN has decreased.
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Pakistan: Realities beyond the clichés
"Natural disasters have invariably been transformed into man-made disasters, through the unpreparedness and dysfunction of government institutions, the incompetence of its politicians, the greed of its economic agents, the tenuous nature of support from civil society..."
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Time to Deliver: The Group of 20 at the Crossroads
The summit meeting of the Group of 20 most important industrialised and emerging countries (G20) in Toronto on 26-27 June 2010 reminded us that even extended informal management bodies in the global economy can only be as good as their member governments.
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Special Report: Cotton Made in Africa
“Love for Africa” was the motto at “Tchibo-World,” which took place in the third week of June in 2008. In addition to fair coffee and African furniture, 700,000 tops, skirts and table cloths bearing the Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) label have been sold in the 900 (app.) Tchibo retail stores.
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Hungary's Defiance of IMF and EU Authorities
The government of Hungary has taken on a lot of powerful interests in the last couple of months, and so far appears to be winning - despite provoking outrage from "everybody who's anybody." "The IMF should hold the line," shouted the Financial Times in an editorial the day after Hungary sent the IMF packing in July.
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