News from Around the World

African Development Bank commits to coal-free financing

NAIROBI — The African Development Bank will no longer finance coal projects, bank president Akinwumi Adesina announced this week at the U.N. Climate Action Summit. It was the first public announcement by the bank committing to end financial support for coal.

“Coal is the past, renewable energy is the future,” Adesina told the audience. “For us at the African Development Bank, we are getting out of coal.”

Mario Draghi declares victory in battle over the euro

From his corner office on the 40th floor of the European Central Bank’s gleaming twin tower headquarters in Frankfurt, Mario Draghi sums up how the ECB has been transformed during his presidency. “[The building] embodies our values,” says the 72-year-old Italian, with a touch of pride. “Transparency and independence.”

Bonds Get a Taste of What Happens When Central Banks Step Back

(Bloomberg) -- Bond traders just had an inkling of what it could be like when central banks and pension funds aren’t there to support them.

IMF’s New Chief Vows to ‘Fix the Roof’ Before the Storm Hits

Kristalina Georgieva took the helm of the International Monetary Fund this week as its first leader to have lived through one of its stringent economic adjustment programs.

Her homeland of Bulgaria was going through a painful transition from socialism to a market economy in the 1990s, with surging debt and unemployment, a collapsing financial system and high inflation.

World Bank boss warns global growth could disappoint

David Malpass, the president of the World Bank, has warned that global growth could fall short of the 2.6 per cent rate it predicted in June, in the latest sign of concern in multilateral institutions about the direction of the world economy.

In a speech in Montreal, ahead of the World Bank and IMF’s annual meetings next week, Mr Malpass warned that global growth was “slowing” and said he expected it to be even lower than the forecast from four months ago due to “Brexit, Europe’s recession, and trade uncertainty”.

ECB's de Guindos raises bar for further rate cuts-Market News

BERLIN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank’s vice-president on Wednesday raised the bar on further interest rate cuts, saying the side effects of the ECB’s easy money policy were becoming more tangible.

In an interview with Market News, Luis de Guindos also ruled out a “policy U-turn” under the ECB’s incoming president Christine Lagarde and weighed in on a public spat among policymakers on last month’s decision to resume a 2.6 trillion euro bond-buying program.

For Both Trump and Xi, Trade Deal Comes Amid Growing Pressures at Home

BEIJING — The interim trade pact announced Friday between the United States and China came together as both countries’ leaders faced mounting political pressures and rising economic worries at home.

IMF slashes global growth forecast on trade war fears

Global growth is set to fall to its slowest rate since the financial crisis this year, the IMF said on Tuesday, as it warned that the self-inflicted wounds of the US and China’s trade war had created a “precarious” economic situation.

Tit-for-tat tariffs have chilled business confidence and investment, the fund said, leaving global trade in goods almost stagnant and forcing central banks to cut interest rates to shore up growth.

U.K. Parliament Set to Vote on Brexit Deal, After Second Attempt Fails

LONDON—Prime Minister Boris Johnson was set to put his Brexit deal to a vote in Parliament on Tuesday, in the first test of whether he has won over enough lawmakers to his plan to pull the U.K. out of the European Union.

China asks WTO to impose $2.4 billion in penalties against U.S.

BERLIN (AP) — China is asking the World Trade Organization for the right to impose $2.4 billion in annual penalties on the United States in a case over Chinese subsidies dating back years.

A document published Monday showed China has called for the matter to be considered by the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body next Monday. The matter would be referred to a WTO arbitrator if the U.S. objects to the amount China proposes.