News from Around the World

Bank of England’s gender diversity boosted by double appointment

The Bank of England’s gender diversity has been boosted by the appointment of two of the most senior women in British banking as external members of the committee that tries to spot and mitigate threats to UK financial stability.

Colette Bowe and Jayne-Anne Gadhia are to join the BoE’s Financial Policy Committee, the Treasury said on Thursday.

The central bank has come under parliamentary scrutiny recently for the dearth of women in its most senior ranks, partly because it currently has no female deputy governors.

Facing harsh realities, the global development community confronts another fraught year

EL PASO, Texas — On the U.S.-Mexico border, the dysfunctional politics of aid today are starkly apparent.

EU’s High Trade Surplus With the U.S. Poses Risk to 2018 Tariff Truce

BRUSSELS—The European Union narrowly avoided a bruising economic war with the U.S. in 2018 by vowing to rebalance trade. In 2019, the EU faces headwinds to fulfilling its promise and satisfying President Trump’s demands.

Latin America: the year that was and the year to come

This is the last LatAm Viva of the year — and what a year it has been. From all-change in the Brazilian and Mexican presidential elections, to the IMF’s biggest-ever bailout package in Argentina or Latin America’s worst refugee crisis in Venezuela.

The word “tumultuous” hardly does the year justice. What might 2019 hold? Standing at its eve, I’m anticipating:

● More smoke than fire in Brazil as President Jair Bolsonaro struggles to manage Congress and his programme falls short of many investors’ high expectations

IDB appoints Brian O'Neill as new executive vice president and COO

WASHINGTON — The Inter-American Development Bank has named former U.S. Treasury official Brian O’Neill to serve as executive vice president and chief operating officer.

O’Neill was approved by the IDB Board of Directors on Dec. 14 and will begin his new role in January. He has over 40 years of experience in banking in Latin America, most recently as a senior advisor at Lazard, an international financial advisory and asset management firm. He served as acting U.S. director at the IDB for five months in 2008.

Prepare for a synchronised global economic slowdown in 2019

It is that time of year when, if you’ve behaved very well and eaten all your Brussels sprouts, elves deliver 2019 macro and markets outlooks to your inbox. Last year, most heralded 2018 as the year of synchronised global growth. The theme did not really pan out, as US expansion far outstripped that of most developed economies thanks to fiscal stimulus.

The world is fixated on the past

Politicians have always exploited the past. But just now, rich countries and emerging economies are experiencing an outbreak of nostalgia. Right and left, democracies and autocracies, all are harking back to the glories of yesteryear. Even as President Donald Trump vows to “Make America great again”, President Xi Jinping is using his “Chinese dream” to banish a century of humiliation and return China to its golden age. Mexico’s new president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has a mission to withstand global capitalism and restore his country’s economic sovereignty.

3 takeaways from COP24

KATOWICE, Poland — The final plenary session was postponed nine times before negotiators in Katowice, Poland, were finally — exhaustedly — able to assemble on Saturday evening and adopt a Paris Agreement “rulebook.”

China’s Economy Slows Sharply, in Challenge for Xi Jinping

DONGGUAN, China — China’s consumers and businesses are losing confidence. Car sales have plunged. The housing market is stumbling. Some factories are letting workers off for the big Lunar New Year holiday two months early.

ECB to halt expansion of €2.6tn QE programme

The European Central Bank has called time on its contentious experiment in bolstering its balance sheet to support the eurozone economy, confirming on Thursday that it will halt the expansion of its €2.6tn bond-buying programme this month.

In a widely expected decision on its quantitative easing policy, the governing council said “the net purchases under the asset purchase programme . . . will end in December 2018.”