MANILA — To hear some pundits tell it, China’s economic miracle – one that lifted 300 million people out of poverty and shifted the world’s geopolitical center of gravity – is coming to a tumultuous end. The volatile stock market and the renminbi’s “surprise” depreciation are signs of imminent economic collapse, according to this view, … Continue reading
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Friday that it has approved a loan of $1 billion for Kazakhstan in an effort to help counter an economic slowdown driven by a tumble in global oil prices that forced the nation to devalue its currency, the tenge. “This loan from ADB’s Countercyclical Support Facility will give the country the fiscal leeway … Continue reading
The move by People’s Bank of China’s (PBoC) this week to loosen the renminbi (RMB) exchange rate, inducing a depreciation of the RMB against the US dollar by 3.5% in two days, has sparked intense debate among economists, pundits and policymakers. Does the depreciation show the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is moving against or … Continue reading
By Pepe Escobar, Asia Times “Pipelineistan” – the prime Eurasian energy chessboard — never sleeps. Recently, it’s Russia that has scored big on all fronts; two monster gas deals sealed with China last year; the launch of Turk Stream replacing South Stream; and the doubling of Nord Stream to Germany. Now, with the possibility of sanctions on … Continue reading
The $100 billion New Development Bank (NDB), also known as the BRICS bank, which comprises of the members of the BRICS grouping of emerging market nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — will start lending in local currency by April 2016 and its member countries will be the primarily focus of the bank, K.V. Kamath, the President of … Continue reading
The BRICS grouping of emerging market nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — have launched their $100 billion New Development Bank (NDB) — also known as the BRICS bank — and have signed an agreement on their $100 billion currency reserve pool — also known as the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) — ahead of the summit of SCO and BRICS being held in the Russian … Continue reading
The Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) officially launched on Monday following a signing ceremony of the bank’s articles of association that took place in Beijing. Chinese President Xi Jinping greeted 300 delegates from the bank’s fifty-seven founding-member countries where they would later determine the total share capital, each member’s voting share of capital, the governance structure, decision-making mechanism, and operational … Continue reading
Today, delegates from prospective founding members of the $100 billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will converge in Beijing for a historic signing ceremony centered on the bank’s legal framework, which will lay down the rules, including each member’s share and voting powers, decision-making processes, and the bank’s initial capital. Ahead of the AIIB ceremony, China says that it will hold … Continue reading
By Mel Gurtov The American people have become used to government trickery in foreign affairs—wars and interventions based on lies and falsified evidence, “national security” used to justify the whittling away of privacy, classification of documents to hide embarrassing disclosures, massaging of budget figures to mask outrageous spending on arms, and demands for new weapons when … Continue reading
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has officially tied itself in with China’s forthcoming Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and has confirmed that the two multilateral lenders will jointly bankroll infrastructure development projects in Asia, according to a press release from ADB President Takehiko Nakao. Nakao met with Liqun Jin, Secretary General of the Multilateral Interim Secretariat of … Continue reading