WDEV Dossier: Global Crisis and the South

The Latest Global Financial Crisis Almost exactly ten years after the Asian crisis, the world is again confronted with a veritable financial crisis. This time the harbingers arise on the other side - the USA rather than East Asia. Today it is the fallout of the real estate crisis in the USA which threatens the financial markets.

Global Slowdown: The LCDs' Sword of Damocles The world´s 50 poorest nations saw the values of their exports climb by a collective 80% from 2004-2006 and recorded their highest rates of economic growth in 30 years. But their increased dependence on selling a few unsophisticated products leaves them vulnerable to a reversal, this year’s LDC report of UNCTAD warns.

South America: Recession Can Be Avoided Since the financial meltdown began in mid-September, the bond markets of most of the region have been hit, as well as most of their stock markets and a number of currencies. Can South America escape the wrath of the economic and financial storms that have their epicenter in the United States?

The Spectre of Global Stagflation Inflation is already rising in many advanced economies and emerging markets. Will rising global inflation lead to a sharp global economic slowdown? Even worse, will it revive stagflation, that deadly combination of rising inflation and negative growth?

A New Deal Against Spreading Economic Insecurity According to the new UN's World Economic and Social Survey, recent optimism that the corner was being turned on poverty thanks to faster growth in emerging markets and even some very poor economies is turning to anxiety, as the global economy downshifts, prices spike and weaknesses in formal-sector employment are exposed.