In bleak times for banks, India’s digital-payments system wins praise
May 7th 2020WHEN INDIA was hit both by the failure of a big bank and a nationwide lockdown in March, bankers, fearing runs from rattled depositors, rushed to stuff cash machines with notes. In fact the demand for cash was relatively subdued. Activity hummed along the Unified Payment Interface (UPI), an electronic-payments network that is…
Emerging markets launch QE, too
EMERGING MARKETS have long resented quantitative easing (QE). When America’s Federal Reserve began its third round of asset purchases in 2012, Guido Mantega, then Brazil’s finance minister, accused it of starting a “currency war”. In 2013 Raghuram Rajan, then the chief economic adviser to India’s government, expressed his displeasure in the manner of Winston Churchill:…
Thais seem ever less impressed by the army
“EVEN MILITARY dogs are grateful to the army,” said Apirat Kongsompong, its commander, earlier this year. He was implying that if mere animals could muster the appropriate emotion, people should be overflowing with gratitude. After all, the army is a “sacred” institution, he believes. Yet ordinary Thais do not seem to realise how lucky they…
The Taliban are joining Afghanistan’s fight against covid-19
Editor’s note: The Economist is making some of its most important coverage of the covid-19 pandemic freely available to readers of The Economist Today, our daily newsletter. To receive it, register here. For our coronavirus tracker and more coverage, see our hubTHE OFFICIAL in charge of the Afghan government’s response to covid-19 in a rural…
Why protesters firebomb banks in Lebanon
Editor’s note: The Economist is making some of its most important coverage of the covid-19 pandemic freely available to readers of The Economist Today, our daily newsletter. To receive it, register here. For our coronavirus tracker and more coverage, see our hubCOVID-19, JOKES Chadi Khoury, might have been good for his mental health. For six…
Covid-19 has many faces
May 9th 2020Editor’s note: The Economist is making some of its most important coverage of the covid-19 pandemic freely available to readers of The Economist Today, our daily newsletter. To receive it, register here. For our coronavirus tracker and more coverage, see our hubACCORDING TO England’s National Health Service the signs that someone has contracted…
With oil prices depressed, China presides over a buyer’s market
WHEN OIL supply threatened to overwhelm storage tanks in Cushing, Oklahoma, in April, the pain was felt as far as Chongqing. Retail investors in the Bank of China’s oil bao, or “treasure”, a speculative vehicle linked to crude futures, took a hit as the May contract for West Texas Intermediate settled at an astonishing -$37.63…
Could the pandemic give America’s labour movement a boost?
May 9th 2020RICHMOND, CALIFORNIAEditor’s note: The Economist is making some of its most important coverage of the covid-19 pandemic freely available to readers of The Economist Today, our daily newsletter. To receive it, register here. For our coronavirus tracker and more coverage, see our hub“MAY DAY, ho, ho, billionaires have got to go.” Protesters with…
Lacking data, many African governments make policy in the dark
May 7th 2020THE GRAVEDIGGERS of Kano know something is up. Death has not come as rapidly to this town in northern Nigeria since a great cholera outbreak 60 years ago, one told the BBC. Local newspapers are running long lists of names of people who have died after showing symptoms of covid-19. Among them were…
Arab states are embracing solar power
TWO MILLENNIA after the ancient Egyptians dropped their solar deity, Ra, their descendants are rediscovering the power of the sun. In the southern desert, half an hour’s drive from Aswan, Egypt is putting the finishing touches to Benban, one of the world’s largest solar farms (pictured). Its 6m panels produce 1.5 gigawatts (GW) of energy,…