Showing 1 - 10 of 84
Moving towards a fifth world order
Oped, Published on 26/10/2024
» The Bretton Woods institutions -- the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank -- are now 80 years old. But they are as under-resourced and poorly supported by national governments as at any time in their history. Their predicament is perhaps the clearest sign that economic and financial multilateralism is fragmenting along with the global economy. Worse, this fragmentation comes at a time of rising international tensions, financial fragility, sputtering growth, rising poverty, and mounting reconstruction bills in Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine, and elsewhere.
Can AI revolutionise prosperity?
Oped, Published on 06/09/2024
» As global economic growth slows, many hope technological innovation is a potential solution. The International Monetary Fund's latest World Economic Outlook, for example, highlighted the potential of artificial intelligence to boost productivity and GDP. But the report also warns that given the uncertainties surrounding the extent of AI's impact, such forecasts should be approached with a dose of caution. While AI could usher in an era of prosperity, this outcome depends on how these emerging technologies evolve.
How South Korea broke the mould
Oped, Published on 02/07/2024
» South Korea is one of just a few countries to transform itself from a low- to high-income economy and the only country to go from a recipient of aid from the OECD's Development Assistance Committee to a DAC donor. It achieved this not by blindly following a pre-designed development path but by taking the right detours.
Tackling populism at its roots
News, Published on 10/01/2024
» As Western democracies become increasingly polarised, rural and small-town voters are regularly pitted against their counterparts in larger urban centres. While this is not a new phenomenon -- and certainly not the only factor affecting voting patterns -- the rural-urban divide is a significant driver of today's culture wars. This dynamic, which economist Andres Rodriguez-Pose evocatively described as the "revenge of the places that don't matter", suggests that the ongoing populist surge largely reflects geographic disparities.
WHO concerned about bird flu after girl's father tests positive
AFP, Published on 24/02/2023
» PARIS - The World Health Organization said Friday it was concerned about bird flu after the father of a 11-year-old Cambodian girl who died from the disease also tested positive, raising fears of human-to-human transmission.
Preempting a generative AI monopoly
Oped, Published on 07/02/2023
» ChatGPT, the new artificial-intelligence chatbot developed by the San Francisco-based research laboratory OpenAI, has taken the world by storm. Already hailed as a milestone in the evolution of so-called large language models (LLMs), the world's most famous generative AI raises important questions about who controls this nascent market and whether these powerful technologies serve the public interest.
China's 'comeback' needs more than a policy reversal
Oped, Published on 27/01/2023
» When President Joe Biden took office in 2021, his first message to the rest of the world was: "America is back". Having assumed his third term as general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in October, President Xi Jinping appears to be issuing a similar proclamation.
Global shocks prompt rethink on supply chains
Oped, Published on 15/06/2022
» Starting in the 1980s, transnational production enabled the expansion of global trade and low prices for goods, contributing significantly to economic growth. But the shocks caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war have shown firms that the efficiency gains implied by the global division of labour -- and just-in-time production -- come at the cost of resilience. With global supply-chain bottlenecks unlikely to resolve themselves soon, firms have turned their attention to reshoring or at least "friend-shoring", which seeks to combine closer geographic proximity with greater geopolitical peace of mind.
Singapore’s PM-in-waiting embodies broader shift in finance hub
Published on 07/06/2022
» In Asia’s wealthiest nation, where the education system is among the world’s best, Singapore’s prime minister-in-waiting has appeared surprisingly unassuming.
British royals begin challenging Caribbean tour
Published on 19/03/2022
» BELIZE CITY: Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate arrive in Belize on Saturday for a week-long Caribbean tour that sparked controversy before it even began amid growing scrutiny of the British Empire’s colonial ties to the region.