World

Pakistani President To Not Receive Pay During Term, Citing Economic Crisis
12Mar mmBy Walter ParezNo Comments
World

Pakistani President To Not Receive Pay During Term, Citing Economic Crisis

Islamabad: Pakistan's newly-elected President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday announced that he would not draw any salary during his tenure as part of his bid to help the cash-strapped country face the challenging economic hardship.Mr Zardari, 68, who took oath as Pakistan's 14th President on Sunday, decided to encourage prudent financial management and not burden the national exchequer, his Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said in a statement on X. "The President considered it essential not to burden the national exchequer and preferred to forgo his salary," President Secretariat Press Wing said in a press release on Tuesday. Former president Arif Alvi was drawing ₹ 8,46,550 per month, which was fixed by Parliament in 2018. Mr Zardari is one of the richest politicians in Pakistan. Mr Za...
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11Mar mmBy Walter ParezNo Comments
Asia, World

China is not addressing its economic problems.

China’s National People’s Congress completed its 2024 session this week with nary a word about addressing the country’s most serious economic problems. The government did announce economic targets for the coming year and expounded upon its lofty pursuit of high-tech industrialization. But the week of meetings offered no real insight into how Chinese leader Xi Jinping intends to deal with a deepening property crisis, trillions of dollars of local government debt, falling prices, soaring youth unemployment, the loss of business and consumer confidence, and a rapidly aging society. For a government that takes pride in announcing reams of policy blueprints and diktats, the absence of any detail on how it plans to take on these interlocking issues left the inevitable conclusion that Beij...
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Busting Myths About “Peak China”
9Mar mmBy Brian ThompsonNo Comments
Asia, World

Busting Myths About “Peak China”

A more nuanced look at China’s economic indicators is necessary to understand current trends. In recent years, there has been a notable shift among certain Western politicians, media outlets and think tanks regarding their perspective on China’s developmental trajectory. The once-popular theory of an imminent Chinese collapse, famously asserted by Gordon G. Chang over two decades ago, has finally begun to lose traction. But there is still a lingering reluctance to acknowledge China’s sustained ascent, prompting the emergence of a new buzzword: “Peak China.” As the second-largest GDP globally for 15 consecutive years, China’s economic landscape has naturally witnessed expansion alongside moderated growth rates, a phenomenon well-recognized in economic theory. In the context of China’...
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Busting Myths About “Peak China”
9Mar mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
China, World

Busting Myths About “Peak China”

A more nuanced look at China’s economic indicators is necessary to understand current trends. In recent years, there has been a notable shift among certain Western politicians, media outlets and think tanks regarding their perspective on China’s developmental trajectory. The once-popular theory of an imminent Chinese collapse, famously asserted by Gordon G. Chang over two decades ago, has finally begun to lose traction. But there is still a lingering reluctance to acknowledge China’s sustained ascent, prompting the emergence of a new buzzword: “Peak China.” As the second-largest GDP globally for 15 consecutive years, China’s economic landscape has naturally witnessed expansion alongside moderated growth rates, a phenomenon well-recognized in economic theory. In the context of China’...
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China’s recently announced strategy for economic growth isn’t exactly a plan.
6Mar mmBy Brian ThompsonNo Comments
China, World

China’s recently announced strategy for economic growth isn’t exactly a plan.

Xi Jinping is ignoring the country’s biggest economic problems. The Chinese government outlined on Monday its plan to boost the country’s sluggish economic growth, but experts say it fell short of the kind of transformative strategy necessary to fix the country’s debt and consumer confidence crises. China has enjoyed miraculous economic expansion for the past few decades, solidifying itself as a global power and building an emergent middle class. It achieved that growth through a blend of the governing regime’s Communist principles and a strategic embrace of the free market, creating a novel form of state-guided capitalism that ushered in a new era of economic prosperity. Recent economic stagnation, however, has called this model into question, forcing the Chinese government to r...
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Amidst economic crises, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wants “immediate” discussions with the IMF.
5Mar mmBy Mike TrudellNo Comments
World

Amidst economic crises, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wants “immediate” discussions with the IMF.

Pakistan's new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered "immediate" talks with the IMF for an extended fund facility for his cash-strapped country, saying that improving the state of the economy would be the top priority of his government which has received the "mandate". In January, Pakistan received over USD 700 million second tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the existing USD 3 billion Stand-by Arrangement (SBA) agreed towards June last year when Pakistan was slowly drifting towards default. Pakistan has not completed the last USD 6.5 billion IMF bailout package, and therefore, the first task of the new government will be to sit with the Washington-based global lender to get the last loan tranche of USD 1.2 billion. The official handle of the Pakistan M...
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National People’s Congress: China announces a bold economic goal for 2024
5Mar mmBy Walter ParezNo Comments
China, World

National People’s Congress: China announces a bold economic goal for 2024

Premier Li Qiang made the announcement at the opening of the annual National People's Congress (NPC) on Tuesday. Mr Li acknowledged that China's economic performance had faced "difficulties", adding that many of these had "yet to be resolved". It comes as China struggles to reinvigorate its once-booming economy. "Risks and potential dangers in real estate, local government debt, and small and medium financial institutions were acute in some areas," he said. "Under these circumstances, we faced considerably more dilemmas in making policy decisions and doing our work." A series of other measures to help tackle the country's slow recovery from the pandemic were also announced, including the development of new initiatives to tackle problems in the country's crisis-hit property sec...
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1Mar mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
China, World

Is the Chinese Economy in Crisis?

China’s economy is showing multiple signs of weakness. Actual growth seems below the official figures; there is substantial deflation; the housing market has yet to stabilize; and the domestic stock markets have fallen significantly. Domestic confidence is flagging, and foreign investment in 2023 was at a three-decade low. Are we witnessing the early days of an emerging full-blown economic crisis, is this just a deeper than unusual cyclical downturn, or are the worries vastly overblown? How should international investors and other governments respond? At this online event, CSIS Trustee Chair Scott Kennedy will seek answers to these questions to a stellar group of economic experts: Steven Barnett, Senior Resident Representative in China for the International Monetary Fund; Logan Wright,...
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Investors betting on more rate cuts cause China’s government bonds to rise.
29Feb mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
China, World

Investors betting on more rate cuts cause China’s government bonds to rise.

SHANGHAI: China's government bonds rose on Friday, as market participants bet on further monetary easing following the biggest ever reduction in the mortgage rate while risk appetite fell slightly as local shares snapped their winning streak. The country slashed the benchmark mortgage rate by 25 basis points this week, the largest cut since the reference rate was introduced in 2019 and far more than analysts had expected. The deep cut prompted market expectations that more policy easing would come to shore up a recovery in the world's second-largest economy. Thirty-year treasury futures for March delivery rose to their highest level since the contract was launched in 2023, while benchmark 30-year yields fell to 2.5720%, the lowest on record. Meanwhile, the yield on the benchmark ...
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24Feb mmBy Michael SmithNo Comments
Asia, World

“This is not the Asian financial crisis.”

KUALA LUMPUR: The weakening of the ringgit is not a true reflection of the state of the national economy and other macroeconomic conditions, says the Prime Minister. Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the current situation must be looked at comprehensively and based on the big picture, including the country’s capacity to grow and the reassuring investment figures. He said the national economy was in a much better position compared with during the Asian financial crisis in 1998. “Why should we look only in terms of the ringgit and compare it with 1998? In 1998, the ringgit fell, investments fell, inflation rose. “It is concerning but is not the same now. The latest (investment) figures announced by the National Investment Council meeting are the highest recorded. “Inflation conti...
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