News from Around the World

Ottawa Meeting Focuses on WTO Reform, Doesn’t Address U.S. Complaints

OTTAWA—Warning the status quo at the World Trade Organization “is no longer sustainable” and the multilateral trading system is at risk, U.S. allies pledged Thursday to address shortfalls at the institution.

ECB Reiterates Plan to Halt Bond Purchases in December

The European Central Bank has signalled that market turmoil and mounting risks to the eurozone economy will not deter it from withdrawing one of the most important strands of its crisis-era stimulus, after it confirmed plans to halt the expansion of its quantitative easing programme by the end of this year.

Can China’s Agricultural Transformation Offer Lessons for Africa?

When 200m farmers are responsible for feeding the entire population of China, any chance of halving hunger levels relies on helping these smallholders become more productive and, in the long term, more efficient.

This is precisely what China is doing, and the results have spared 155m people from hunger and malnutrition since 1990, accounting for two-thirds of the global fall in hunger levels.

Solutions to the Big Data Challenge at the UN World Data Forum

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Big data offers promises to better support and facilitate the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals. And Robert Kirkpatrick, the director of United Nations Global Pulse, believes big data is what governments will need to achieve the SDGs.

Argentina's Central Bank Chief Warns on Outlook

Argentina’s new central bank governor said it was “definitely too soon” to declare that stability had returned to the country’s battered currency, whose dramatic slide this year forced Buenos Aires to seek a bailout from the IMF.

The Argentine peso has gained more than 10 per cent since a monetary policy programme backed by the IMF was put in place when Guido Sandleris took over at the central bank last month. But, Mr Sandleris warned, rising global interest rates and a possible US-China trade war meant the outlook for emerging markets, including Argentina, was still unclear.

China Posts Weakest Growth in Nearly a Decade, Scrambles to Soothe Investors

BEIJING—China’s economic expansion slowed to its weakest pace since the financial crisis, as top financial regulators launched an extraordinary coordinated effort to calm jittery investors.

Opinion: How public-private partnerships can tackle global health challenges

To advance global health around the world, aggressive targets have been set by the United Nations to mobilize action as set forth in the Sustainable Development Goals. The business community plays a critical role in these efforts by providing products and services to help meet health care needs.

EU seeks more Asia trade deals after Vietnam pact

Brussels has approved a trade agreement with Vietnam in the latest sign of how the EU is trying to strike deals to fight a growing climate of protectionism.

Cecilia Malmstrom, the EU’s trade commissioner, said Europe was determined to deepen commercial ties with Asia, saying the deal and a similar agreement with Singapore would move the bloc closer to a broader regional trade pact with south-east Asia.

The deal with Vietnam was the “most ambitious agreement we have ever made with a developing country”, Ms Malmstrom said.

IMF readies for further danger signals in emerging markets

With Asian equity markets tumbling on Thursday morning, Christine Lagarde, the head of the IMF, used her pulpit at a Balinese beachside conference centre to deliver some marching orders to economic policymakers in emerging markets. 

They should, she said, “use all the tools” at their disposal to stem the capital outflows that would inevitably be triggered by tightening monetary policy in the US, and the escalating trade war between the US and China.

A new US development finance agency takes flight

WASHINGTON — The United States will have a new development finance institution.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate passed the Better Utilization of Investment Leading to Development, or BUILD Act, which will create a new U.S. government agency — the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. Development experts called it the biggest change in U.S. development policy in 15 years.