LONDON: Governments and business leaders must focus on shaping their own “destiny” rather than being beholden to negative economic forecasts, a panel of finance ministers and economic experts said on Friday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
This despite projections by both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund that the 2020s will be a decade of low growth.
Recognizing the value of such projections, Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said it nonetheless remains within government power to change them.
“(World Bank President) Ajay Banga said at this event that these were ‘projections not destiny,’ and therefore we should work on seeing how we can form our own destiny and shape the way we do things by adopting policies to fuel growth,” Al-Jadaan told attendees.
Acknowledging the gravity of current geopolitical tensions and financial pain being felt worldwide, he stressed that “immediate risks” require redressing.
But his optimistic outlook was shared by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director general of the World Trade Organization, who said the tendency to focus on the “pessimistic” things that may happen overcast the “bright shoots” that she is seeing.
“In spite of all the uncertainties, trade has remained largely resilient,” she added. “It was because of trade that Europe was able to find other sources of energy from the US, the Gulf and elsewhere to make up for the withdrawal of energy from Russia.
“And it’s trade that allowed 35 (African) countries dependent on Black Sea grain to source alternatives.”
Amid reports of fragmentation and geopolitical tension, there are new shoots of trade growth, including rapid expansion in services and digital trade, she said.
Recent data suggests that growth in digitally delivered services is also one to pay attention to, with an annual increase of 8 percent, and Okonjo-Iweala urged those listening to ask themselves how best to support this.
Noting that 2023 had been a “strange year,” European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said it is important not to disregard consumption as a driving force of growth.
“Trade went down and was massively disrupted by this model of ‘goods versus services versus goods’ over the course of the last two years, but it’s beginning now to really pick up,” she added.
“In October, we had global trade numbers that for the first time in many months were up, and the pattern of trade has been changing.”
Similarly, German Finance Minister Christian Linder said “given the historic shocks” that have rattled the world since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global economy has shown “remarkable resilience.”
However, Singapore’s President Tharman Shanmugaratnam warned against “slow-moving changes” that are making their mark.
“We know what they are. We know what’s happening in the global ecological balance. We know what’s happening in terms of aging societies which we’re by and large not prepared for,” he said.
“We know what’s happening with the gradual drift toward polarization. These are real threats to resilience and human security. And I’m not even talking about the wars.”
Govts, business leaders should not be beholden to negative economic forecasts: WEF panel
https://arab.news/2qhp7
Govts, business leaders should not be beholden to negative economic forecasts: WEF panel
- Saudi finance minister: ‘We should work on seeing how we can form our own destiny’
- German counterpart: Global economy has shown ‘remarkable resilience’ since onset of pandemic
- WTO chief: ‘In spite of all the uncertainties, trade has remained largely resilient’
Germany scraps funding for sea rescues of migrants
“We need to be active where the need is greatest“
BERLIN: Germany is cutting financial support for charities that rescue migrants at risk of drowning in the Mediterranean, saying it will redirect resources to addressing conditions in source countries that spur people to leave.
For decades, migrants driven by war and poverty have made perilous crossings to reach Europe’s southern borders, with thousands estimated to die every year in their bid to reach a continent grown increasingly hostile to migration.
“Germany is committed to being humane and will help where people suffer but I don’t think it’s the foreign office’s job to finance this kind of sea rescue,” Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told a news conference.
“We need to be active where the need is greatest,” he added, mentioning the humanitarian emergency in war-shattered Sudan.
Under the previous left-leaning government, Germany began paying around 2 million euros ($2.34 million) annually to non-governmental organizations carrying out rescues of migrant-laden boats in trouble at sea.
For them, it has been a key source of funds: Germany’s Sea-Eye, which said rescue charities have saved 175,000 lives since 2015, received around 10 percent of its total income of around 3.2 million euros from the German government.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives won February’s national election after a campaign promising to curb irregular migration, which some voters in Europe’s largest economy see as being out of control.
Even though the overall numbers have been falling for several years, many Germans blame migration-related fears for the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), now the second largest party in parliament.
Many experts say that migration levels are mainly driven by economic and humanitarian emergencies in the source countries, with the official cold shoulder in destination countries having had little impact in deterring migrants.
Despite this, German officials suggest that sea rescues only incentivise people to risk the sometimes deadly crossings.
“The (government) support made possible extra missions and very concretely saved lives,” said Gorden Isler, Sea-Eye’s chairperson. “We might now have to stay in harbor despite emergencies.”
The opposition Greens, who controlled the foreign office when the subsidies were introduced, criticized the move.
“This will exacerbate the humanitarian crisis and deepen human suffering,” said joint floor leader Britta Hasselmann.
Mass shooting in gang-plagued Mexican state leaves 12 dead and more injured
- The attorney general’s office in Guanajuato said some 20 others were hospitalized
- Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said the victims included children
MEXICO CITY: At least 12 people were killed, including a teenager, and more wounded in a Tuesday night shooting in the central Mexican city of Irapuato, authorities said on Wednesday.
The attorney general’s office in Guanajuato, the violence-plagued state where Irapuato is located, said some 20 others were hospitalized with gunshot wounds.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said earlier on Wednesday that the victims included children, although the attorney general’s office later confirmed only one casualty was a minor, aged 17.
“It is very unfortunate what happened. An investigation is under way,” Sheinbaum said.
Local media reported the shooting happened during an evening party celebrating a Catholic holiday, the Nativity of John the Baptist.
A video circulating on social media showed people dancing in the patio of a housing complex while a band played in the background, before gunfire erupted. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the video.
Guanajuato has been for many years one of the most violent regions in the country.
On Tuesday, five other people were killed in other parts of the state, according to the attorney general’s office.
29 pupils taking high school exams killed in Central Africa crush
- In the ensuing panic, supervisors and students tried to flee, some jumping from the first floor of the school
- “I would like to express my solidarity and compassion to the parents of the deceased candidates, to the educational staff, to the students,” Touadera said
BANGUI: Twenty-nine students taking their high school exams in the Central African Republic died in a stampede sparked by an exploding power transformer, the health ministry told AFP Thursday.
Just over 5,300 students were sitting the second day of the baccalaureate exams at the time of the explosion early Wednesday afternoon in Bangui, the capital of the deeply poor nation.
In the ensuing panic, supervisors and students tried to flee, some jumping from the first floor of the school.
The injured were transported by ambulance, on the back of pickup trucks or by motorbike taxi, AFP journalists saw.
“I would like to express my solidarity and compassion to the parents of the deceased candidates, to the educational staff, to the students,” President Faustin Archange Touadera said in a video published on his party’s Facebook page.
Touadera, who is attending a summit of the Gavi vaccine alliance in Brussels, also announced three days of national mourning.
According to a document circulating on social media and authenticated by the health ministry, 29 deaths were registered by hospitals in the city.
“The hospital was overwhelmed by people to the point of obstructing caregivers and ambulances, a health ministry source stated.
UN peacekeepers, police and other security were seen around the Barthelemy Boganda high school and hospitals.
Education Minister Aurelien-Simplice Kongbelet-Zingas said in a statement Wednesday that “measures will be taken quickly to shed light on the circumstances of this incident.”
The minister added that a further statement would follow regarding selection of a date for the students to resume their exams program.
The Republican Bloc for the Defense of the Constitution (BRDC), a coalition of opposition parties, condemned what it termed “the irresponsibility of the authorities in place, who have failed in their duty to ensure the safety of students and school infrastructure.”
The CAR is among the poorest countries in the world and, since independence from France in 1960, has endured a succession of coups, authoritarian rulers and civil wars.
The latest civil war started more than a decade ago. The government has secured the main cities and violence has subsided in recent years.
But fighting occasionally erupts in remote regions between rebels and the national army, which is backed by Wagner mercenaries and Rwandan troops.
Municipal, legislative, and presidential elections are scheduled for August and December of this year but UN experts are calling for urgent institutional reform of the electoral authority before the polls and for “transparent internal governance,” as tensions between the government and the opposition intensify.
Kremlin says no date yet for next round of Ukraine peace talks
- Peskov said Russia was in favor of continued US efforts to mediate
- They have made no progress toward a ceasefire
MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Thursday there was no progress yet toward setting a date for the next round of peace talks with Ukraine, Interfax news agency reported.
Another agency, TASS, quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying Russia was in favor of continued US efforts to mediate.
Resuming negotiations after a gap of more than three years, Russia and Ukraine held face-to-face talks in Istanbul on May 16 and June 2 that led to a series of prisoner exchanges and the return of the bodies of dead soldiers.
But they have made no progress toward a ceasefire which Ukraine, with Western backing, has been pressing for.
16 dead, thousands of businesses destroyed after Kenya protests
- The marches had been called to mark one year since anti-tax demonstrations
- “What unfolded yesterday was not a protest. It was terrorism disguised as dissent,” Kipchumba Murkomen, interior cabinet secretary, said
NAIROBI: At least 16 people died in protests across Kenya on Wednesday, Amnesty International said Thursday, as businesses and residents were left to clean up the devastation in the capital and beyond.
The marches had been called to mark one year since anti-tax demonstrations that peaked when a huge crowd stormed parliament and dozens were killed by security forces.
The anniversary marches began peacefully Wednesday but descended into chaos as young men held running battles with police, lit fires, and ripped up pavements to use as projectiles.
“What unfolded yesterday was not a protest. It was terrorism disguised as dissent,” Kipchumba Murkomen, interior cabinet secretary, said in a televised speech.
“We condemn the criminal anarchists who in the name of peaceful demonstrations unleashed a wave of violence, looting, sexual assault and destruction upon our people,” he added.
In Nairobi’s business district, the epicenter of the unrest, AFP journalists found entire shopping centers and thousands of businesses destroyed, many still smoldering.
At least two banks had been broken into, while businesses ranging from supermarkets to small electronics and clothing stores were reduced to ashes or ransacked by looters.
“When we came we found the whole premise burnt down,” said Raphael Omondi, 36, owner of a print shop, adding that he had lost machines worth $150,000.
“There were guys stealing, and after stealing they set the whole premises on fire... If this is what protest is, it is not worth it.”
“They looted everything... I do not know where to start,” said Maureen Chepkemoi, 32, owner of a perfume store.
“To protest is not bad but why are you coming to protest inside my shop? It is wicked,” she added.
Several business owners told AFP that looting had started in the afternoon after the government ordered TV and radio stations to stop broadcasting live images of the protests.
Amnesty International’s Kenya director Irungu Houghton said the death toll had risen to 16.
Rights group Vocal Africa, which was documenting the deaths and helping affected families at a Nairobi morgue, said at least four bodies had been brought there so far.
“All of them had signs of gunshots, so we suspect they all died of gunshot wounds,” its head Hussein Khalid told AFP.
“We condemn this excessive use of force,” he said. “We believe that the police could have handled themselves with restraint.”
“You come out to protest police killings, and they kill even more.”
A coalition of rights groups had earlier said at least 400 people were wounded, with 83 in serious condition in hospital. It recorded protests in 23 counties around Kenya.
Emergency responders reported multiple gunshot wounds, and there were unconfirmed local media reports that police had opened fire on protesters, particularly in towns outside the capital.
There is deep resentment against President William Ruto, who came to power in 2022 promising rapid economic progress.
Many are disillusioned by continued economic stagnation, corruption and high taxes, as well as police brutality after a teacher was killed in custody earlier this month.
