Opinion

The five-day visit of the Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, to Egypt is seen as Riyadh’s political and economic support for Cairo to overcome current economic and political challenges. It also reflects the regional role of the two countries: Saudi Arabia, which is the top Arab economy, and Egypt, the …

Europe’s economic malaise has a lot to do with its crippled banking system. Making that system more fragile seems like the wrong way to address the issue. With the European Central Bank taking interest rates deeper into negative territory and the euro-area economy languishing, investors have become more concerned about the future profitability — and perhaps the viability — of …

Asia and the Pacific are recognized for leadership in global output, trade, and development. The region has a new opportunity to lead on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – a multidimensional, multisectoral, and multiagency undertaking. In 2016, the first year of implementation for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), our region faces significant challenges: prioritizing SDG implementation; pace and sequencing; …

Later this month, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter will travel to the Philippines as part of a broader Asia trip. His upcoming visit highlights how the Southeast Asian state – long belittled as one of Asia’s weakest militaries and Washington’s laggard alliance – has in fact grown to become a critical part of America’s ongoing rebalance to the region. Although …

For nearly a week late last month, a modicum of peace appeared to have settled over El Salvador. After the country’s leading criminal gangs called a unilateral truce, violent crime suddenly plunged, and the homicide rate fell to around nine a day. If that doesn’t sound like much to cheer about, consider this: The small Central American nation of about …

Donald Trump tests the limits of campaign speech. He makes false statements and refuses to correct them. He attacks other religions and ethnic groups, inflaming domestic tension and foreign terrorist rage. He pledges to overhaul long-standing US commitments in ways that frighten allies. He cavalierly predicts a “massive recession,” undermining confidence in the US economy. When criticized, Trump adopts the …

Massive recession and charges of juggling government accounts to disguise the depth of budget shortfalls during her 2014 re-election, combined to weigh heavily on Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who is currently facing imminent impeachment. But she and her supporters argue that this relatively technical accusation regarding the budget is not an impeachable offence. Indeed, the grip is tightening on Rousseff, …

Narayana Kocherlakota The steady improvement of the U.S. economy has led many to conclude that the Federal Reserve should keep removing stimulus by resuming interest-rate increases this year. I disagree: With inflation pressures low, there’s a lot more the Fed can and should do to get people back to work. To understand my point, consider three charts. The first shows …

The independence of Hong Kong’s economy, its transparency and its makeup has made it a regional benchmark for market players looking at the broader economic outlook. That was the case in the aftermath of the 1997/98 Asian Financial Crisis and the 2008 Great Recession. As the fallout from last’s year’s Great Fall of China continues, the former British territory is …

As the current presidential election campaign gathers momentum in the United States, a remarkable distrust of free trade and globalization appears to have gained a voice in mainstream politics. Distrust and anger at unbalanced trade has facilitated the rise of Donald Trump, the Republican Party front-runner, and helped Bernie Sanders in his bid to win the Democratic Party nomination. Opposition …