Category: Economy
All Hands-on Deck Needed for Development Finance—including China
By Tim Hirschel-Burns Many people in the development finance community migrated up the United States' eastern seaboard over the weekend. Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group Spring Meetings took place in Washington D.C., while this week ...
Splashy Saudi Mega-Project NEOM Chases Chinese Funds
By Holmes Chan with Robbie Corey-Boulet in Riyadh Bigwigs behind a Saudi megacity dogged by questions about its viability have wrapped up a tour courting Chinese investors, detailing plans for a futuristic ski resort and 170-kilometer-long skyscrapers.
WEEK IN REVIEW: Russia Building New Trade Routes to Asia to Circumvent International Sanctions
Russia is building new trade routes to Asia that will circumvent international sanctions by crossing the Arctic and passing through Iran to the Indian Ocean. The new routes will cut transport times to China and India by up to 50% while avoiding dangerous passages like the Red Sea.
IMF Introduces New Rules to Speed Up Debt Restructurings and Blunt Chinese Delays
The International Monetary Fund approved a new set of rules to speed up the debt restructuring process in developing countries and reduce delays in negotiating settlements with bilateral creditors that have been widely blamed on China. The new rules specifically focus on ...
China Writes Off Unspecified Amount of Zimbabwe’s Interest-Free Debt
China's ambassador to Zimbabwe, Zhou Ding, announced that Beijing will cancel a very small portion of Harare's estimated $2.1 billion of outstanding debt to Chinese creditors. Zhou said on Wednesday that interest-free loans that matured at the end of 2015 ...
China Imported a Record Amount of Oil Last Year
China broke its all-time record for oil imports last year, averaging 11.3 million barrels a day — 10% more than in 2022, according to new Chinese Customs data. Almost 20% of that volume came from Russia alone, which displaced Saudi Arabia ...
China +1: Apple CEO Meets Indonesia Leader to Talk Investments
Apple chief executive Tim Cook met Indonesia's president on Wednesday, as the tech giant explores ways to invest in Southeast Asia's biggest economy and diversify supply chains away from China. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden's administration seeks to ...
Cheap Chinese Steel Threatens Jobs in Latin America
By Paulina Abramovich Latin American metal workers are clamoring for higher import tariffs as cheap Chinese steel floods the region, threatening hundreds of thousands of jobs linked to the industry. Last year, the region imported ...
Should China Have a Larger Stake in the International Monetary Fund?
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) annual Spring Meetings got underway in Washington, D.C., on Monday. These two institutions' stakeholders will spend the week grappling with issues ranging from debt to climate change and global governance. One issue ...
Bridging the $3 Trillion Investment Gap: Debt Relief and the Race to Achieve the SDGs and Paris Agreement
By Marina Zucker-Marques This week, policymakers, civil society leaders, researchers, and others will gather in Washington, D.C., for the 2024 International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank Group Spring Meetings. The meetings come as many ...
With New Oil Deal, China Holds Steady in Niger While Western Powers Withdraw
Niger signed a $400 million MoU with Chinese state-owned oil giant China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) for the sale of crude oil from the country’s Agadem oilfield. Following the launch of a pipeline project in November backed by PetroChina, the publicly-listed arm ...
Chinese Exports Fall More Than Feared in March
Chinese exports plunged more than expected last month, official figures showed Friday, as the world's second-largest economy struggles to sustain its post-pandemic recovery. Shipments sank 7.5 percent on-year, while imports shrank 1.9%, the General Administration of Customs said. ...