On Tuesday, India announced a $500 million credit line to help Sri Lanka purchase fuel (petroleum products). The island nation is currently struggling with massive fuel and energy crisis. According to the Indian High Commission, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar agreed to offer critical support along with a $500 million credit line through a letter written to Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G L Peiris. The nation started to lose its currency value, making imports costly. It is also grappling with a shortage of almost all essential commodities including fuel. The power cuts are imposed
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has junked the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) request to open the Afghanistan Relief Fund and requested to review its decision. According to the local media, the Central Bank is afraid that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) can impose sanctions against Islamabad. On Saturday, the bank advised them to review the action in light of Pakistan’s commitments under international covenants and the FATF action plan. Since 2018, Pakistan is on the Paris-based FATF’s grey list for anti-money laundering and for deficiencies in its counter-terror
The US economy is facing the greatest threat since the Great Depression, as inflation jumped at its fastest pace in nearly four decades last month. A 7% spike from one year earlier that's increasing household expenses, eating into wage gains, and putting pressure on President Joe Biden and the Federal Reserve. 2021 saw a sharp rise in gas, cars, food, and furniture for rapid recovery from the pandemic recession. To help spur the demand for goods, the government provided vast infusion aid and ultra-low interest rates. The fast pace vaccination rate provided residents the confidence to dine
According to the world bank report, the new emerging COVID-19 variants lead to rising inflation, debt, and income inequality and cause a drop in overall GDP to 4.1% in 2022 from 5.5% in 2021. Global Economic Prospects report suggests after a strong rebound in 2021, the new COVID variant can threaten the global economy and might face a slowdown. World Bank Group President David Malpass said, “The world economy is simultaneously facing COVID-19, inflation, and policy uncertainty, with the government spending and monetary policies in uncharted territory. Rising inequality and security chall
French economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas has been named as the next chief economist for The International Monetary Fund (IMF). He will succeed Gita Gopinath by joining as the First Deputy Managing Director with the IMF management team. Gourinchas said on Twitter, “I am deeply honored to be appointed as the IMF’s new Economic Counselor and Director of Research. I look forward very much to working with the new IMF colleagues”. He is due to take over his role as the Fund’s chief economist on January 24. As soon as he finishes his teaching obligations, he will begin serving as chief
On Tuesday, the United Nations launched its biggest appeal ever for $5 billion. This appeal is made to aid 22 million Afghans by preventing them from ‘catastrophe’. The nation is currently on the brink of a humanitarian crisis along with economic collapse. Martin Griffiths, UN humanitarian chief calls this “the largest ever appeal”. It said that it was “encouraging” as there is a high degree of consensus for the increasingly desperate needs of the people of Afghan. The United Nations has announced a pledge conference to follow the appeal. There were indications that other mo
On Jan 8, during a telephonic conversation between Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and his counterpart Iran’s Amir-Abdollahian, a partnership offer was made. Both nations agreed to supply humanitarian aid to Afghanistan that will include wheat, the COVID vaccines, and medicines. Various bilateral regional and international concerns were discussed by Abdollahian and Jaishankar including Afghanistan’s current situation. The importance of forming an inclusive administration in Afghanistan was emphasized during the call. Iran’s Chabahar port usage was also discussed where India oper
On Sunday, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa request the Chinese government to help South Asian countries weather a worsening financial crisis to help restructure debt repayments. During a meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Rajapaksa made the request in Colombo. According to reports by analysts, despite benefiting from billions of dollars in soft loans for China, the island nation is facing a foreign exchange crisis. It is currently placing the nation on the verge of default. Behind international financial markets and Asian Development Bank (ABD and Japan, China is th
Sri Lanka has been struggling with its economy since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Presently, it is on the brink of bankruptcy and is going through a major financial and humanitarian crisis. The high inflation, increase in food prices, and unemployment, is soared up with the increasing number of Covid-19 cases across the globe. According to a British newspaper ‘Guardian’, the country is on a heavy debt of $7.3 billion loan both domestic and foreign which it has to repay within 12 months. A $500 million international sovereign bond repayment is due in January itself. As f
Singapore’s economy outdid itself in 2021 by showing the highest economic growth in more than a decade. It has shown the steadiest growth despite the recessions followed by the COVID-19 pandemic that hard-hit country’s economy in the previous year. The recession that it faced a year before was the worst one of its entire lifetime, but it grew out of it most efficiently with showing almost 7.9% growth in its economy in 2021. The Ministry of Trade and Industry said that the country witnessed a sharp rise of 7.2% in its economy in 2021, which is the highest since 2010 and even higher than