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Otaviano Canuto, IMF: China’s Spill-Overs on Latin America and the Caribbean
The Chinese economy is rebalancing while softening its growth pace. China’s spillovers on the global economy have operated through trade, commodity prices, and financial channels. The global reach of the effects from China’s transition have recently been illustrated in risk
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Venezuela: Economic Decline Too Steep to Tabulate
Venezuelan social media is a curious thing. There are few pictures of parents proudly showing off their kids, or of people buzzing with their hazy pictures of a boozy Friday night out littered with endless LMAOs and LOLs. Instead, the
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Otaviano Canuto, IMF: What Happened to World Trade?
World trade suffered another disappointing year in 2015, experiencing a contraction in merchandise trade volumes during the first half and only a low recovery during the second half (Figure 1). While last year’s trade performance can be associated to the
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Ann Low, US Department of State: Good Corporate Governance is Good Business
OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises. Over the past decade, cross-border trade and investment by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) has surged. According to the OECD, whereas in 2005, there were only three SOEs in the Fortune Global 50 list
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Otaviano Canuto, IMF: Whither Emerging Markets Foreign Exchange Reserves
After a exponential rise in foreign exchange reserves accumulation by emerging markets from 2000 onwards, the tide seems to have turned south since mid-2014. Changes in capital flows and commodity prices have been major factors behind the inflection, with the
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From the editor: The Art of the Doomsayer – Crisis? What Crisis?
Just as a broken watch still tells the right time twice a day, the persistent doomsayer will eventually be vindicated. In the financial world, entire reputations are built on predicting recessions, if not depressions: keep it up long enough and
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World Bank Group: Ask Citizens Where Public Money Should Go – The Surprising Results
As citizen engagement gains traction in the development agenda, identifying the extent to which it produces tangible results is essential. Participatory budgeting, a process in which citizens decide upon and monitor budget allocation, offers promising results, including increased local government
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IFC: Capital Markets Key to Development
Ending extreme poverty for good and building shared prosperity across the developing world takes money – a lot of money. Take infrastructure: for the foreseeable future, an estimated $50 billion per year is needed in Africa alone to deliver basic
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BRIC-à-Brac: Requiem for a Wishful Thought
In the end, it may have been nothing more than a flash in the pan. Unable to fulfil the promise of a new world order, the BRICS countries have largely ceased to be of note. With sputtering economies and political
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Brazil & Argentina: Only One Getting Real
Brazil is just one step removed from facing its reality. With nearly all macroeconomic indicators pointing in the less desirable of directions, the country is facing a downgrade of its sovereign credit rating with S&P on July 28 changing its
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