The World Bank expects the international economic slowdown to be at its worst in over four decades in 2024. This is mainly due to powerful Western nations’ contractionary macroeconomic and geopolitical policies. Dismal outlook According to the Bank’s last Global Economic Prospects report, world economic growth will be weakest by the end
Author: Jomo Kwame Sundaram & Khoo Wei Yang, IPS
Industrial policy, east or west, for development or war?
Developing countries wanting to pursue industrial policy were severely reprimanded by advocates of the ‘neoliberal’ Washington Consensus. Now, it is being deployed as a weapon in the new Cold War. Industrial policy vs colonialism Industrial policy is often seen as pioneered by Friedrich List. But List was inspired by George Washington’s first
Onerous debt making poorest poorer
Contractionary economic trends since 2008 and ‘geopolitical’ conflicts subverting international cooperation have worsened world conditions, especially in the poorest countries, mainly in Africa, leaving their poor worse off. Conditions and prospects are so bad that two well-known globalisation cheerleaders have appealed to rich nations for urgent action. Former IMF Deputy Managing
World Bank climate finance plan little help, unfair
Rich nations have contributed most to the current climate crisis. They are primarily responsible for the historical emissions and greenhouse gas (GHG) accumulation of the last two centuries. Developing countries, especially in the tropics and sub-tropics, are the main victims of global warming today. Most need finance and other means to