The Federal Reserve prepares for quantitative tightening
Apr 9th 2022 | Washington, DCQUANTITATIVE EASING, or QE, once an unconventional tool of monetary policy, has become commonplace over the past decade. During the pandemic alone the Federal Reserve bought a staggering $3.3trn in Treasuries and $1.3trn in mortgage-backed securities as it sought to keep borrowing costs low. The reverse process, quantitative tightening (QT),…
Justice in India is growing ever more partisan
The ruling party’s opponents are punished with remarkable speedWHEN INDIANS think of how the law works, speed is not what comes to mind. An average case in the lower courts takes five years to settle. Three-quarters of prison inmates are not sentenced offenders, but awaiting trial. Yet repeatedly in recent weeks Indian justice has moved…
Lebanon goes to the polls amid its worst-ever financial crisis
ONE WAY to predict the future in Lebanon is to look at election billboards and imagine the opposite. The last time voters chose a parliament, in 2018, roads across the country were lined with cheery messages. “Our port will come”, read one, referring to a tourist harbour that would woo cruise ships and boost the…
Politics
Listen to this story.Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android.Your browser does not support the element.Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskUkraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said that a Russian assault had begun along a 400km front line in the east of the country. The attack had long been expected…
How would an energy embargo affect Germany’s economy?
RUSSIA’S DECISION to halt the supply of gas to Bulgaria and Poland has added fuel to an already heated debate in Germany, which is heavily reliant on the commodity. For weeks the country’s economists and officials have argued over just how much a ban on Russian hydrocarbons would harm the economy. Now it seems imaginable…
China should worry less about its currency
Apr 30th 2022 | HONG KONGIT IS EASY to forget that the world’s second-biggest economy is still an emerging market. China’s global clout, its technological prowess in certain fields, and even its low bond yields all distinguish it from the typical member of its asset class. But in at least one respect China resembles a…
The jeepneys of the Philippines refuse to pull over
Plans for better transport are idlingTHE JEEPNEYS of the Philippines are at once a national treasure and a dirty menace. When American troops went home in 1946, they left behind hundreds of military jeeps. Filipinos fitted them with benches, daubed them with gaudy illustrations and began charging commuters for lifts around town. The originals have…
Cambodia’s strongman, Hun Sen, plans his succession
HIS HOURS-LONG speeches lack the pizzazz of yesteryear. He is said to tire more easily on his early-morning treadmill. Though still a stripling of an autocrat at 69 years of age, the shadows are lengthening on the rule of Hun Sen, Cambodia’s prime minister. He has run the country, in one form or another and…
Why more Arab Muslims are ignoring the Ramadan fast
State enforcement of the rules is becoming softer tooDOWNING WHISKY sours at sunset in the bars of Jordan’s capital, Amman. Puffing a cigarette in the rush-hour traffic in Iran’s capital, Tehran. Raunchy massages in Morocco’s Marrakech. Such are the goings-on in the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims are meant to abstain from food, drink…
Old hopefuls are jostling to succeed Nigeria’s President Buhari
Most Nigerians are younger than 19. Their main candidates are over 70IN MOST PLACES, elections are about the future. In Nigeria, oddly, they start with a bow to a coup-ridden past. Every four years wannabe presidents stream to a sprawling hilltop villa, where they try to win the favour of Ibrahim Babangida, a former military…