News from Around the World

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UK prime minister Theresa May hopes the EU27 leaders will give a political push to the EU’s chief negotiator to close a deal.

Brexit timeline: key dates in UK’s divorce with EU


Britain is nearing the final straight of Brexit. At 11pm local time on March 29 2019, the UK is scheduled to leave the bloc. But still to be decided is what precisely will happen on Brexit day, what kind of deal, if any, Britain will leave with, and the final destination of the negotiations.

With less than six months to go, the Financial Times sets out the chief way stations on the road to Brexit and beyond.

NYSE

World economy at risk of another financial crash, says IMF


The world economy is at risk of another financial meltdown, following the failure of governments and regulators to push through all the reforms needed to protect the system from reckless behaviour, the International Monetary Fund has warned.

With global debt levels well above those at the time of the last crash in 2008, the risk remains that unregulated parts of the financial system could trigger a global panic, the Washington-based lender of last resort said

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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.

Kazuhiro Nogi | AFP | Getty Images

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.

Juncker (right) welcomes Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to Brussels.PHOTO: REUTERS

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.

Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post, via Getty Images

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.

Workers checked optical fibers at a factory in China’s eastern Jiangsu province on Oct. 17. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

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.

Guido Sandleris Source: TORCUATO DI TELLA UNIVERSITY/EPA/REX via Shutterstock

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.

UN.org

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.

worldbank.org

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.