Just eight weeks after IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn ventured the expertise of his organization to help the international community to “think outside of the box” on climate financing, the IMF staff has delivered: Print-fresh from Washington’s 19th Street comes a short, but content-heavy paper by two IMF economists on how an international Green Fund partially financed by climate-SDRs could be set-up with the goal of generating some US$ 100 billion per year by 2010. By Liane Schalatek
The good news: the IMF says it does not want to create, finance or manage the Green Fund — unless, of course, a G20 decision might force the institution to do it anyway… Alas, this seems at present quite unlikely, since apparently the IMF’s Board of Directors already rejected the proposal in a formal board meeting a few weeks ago ... ... this article will come up in WDEV 2/Mar-Apr 2010 and is for subscribers only. For direct log in >>> click here.If you have no subscription >>> pick your option or >>>
At first glance, everyday life seems not to have changed in Istanbul. The streets are congested; people hurry to the ferry or the bus. For weeks, there has been no terror attack. Nevertheless, there are some visible changes. There are much more policemen in the streets. In some days, the Istiklal Caddesi, the main shopping street on the European side, seems to be under a state of siege. At every street corner, there is police van with the blue light switched on.
Recent disturbing trends in international finance have particularly problematic implications, especially for developing countries. The new United Nations report, World Economic Situation and Prospects 2017 (WESP 2017), is the only recent report of a multilateral inter-governmental organization to recognize these problems, especially as they are relevant to the financing requirements for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Trump government signals unequivocally the end of international US hegemony. An international hegemon is able to define rules that find relatively broad acceptance internationally and plays a role in safeguarding international economic stability. The Trump government announced measures that go against the present economic rules while not proposing new ones.
The global deficit in quality jobs and deteriorating economic conditions in a number of regions threatens to undo decades of progress in poverty reduction, warns a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the World Employment and Social Outlook (WESO) 2016.
Weakening of workers' rights in most regions is being aggravated by severe crackdowns on freedom of speech and assembly, according to the 2016 Global Rights Index. Restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly, including severe crackdowns in some countries, increased by 22%, with 50 out of 141 countries surveyed recording restrictions.