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From the UK's Brexit challenge and US unilateralism, to trade wars and European immigration concerns, the unifying theme that preoccupied liberal policy-makers in 2018 was the political threat to economic globalisation and how best to share the benefits of an interconnected world.
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The blockchain technology behind well-known crypto-assets contains enormous potential for efficiency-enhancing and cost-saving applications for digitally recording subscriptions, safe custody and trading activities. Less benignly, there are widespread fears that an untrammelled move into an uncharted investment territory could, in the event of malfeasance or malfunction, critically undermine confidence and restrict future innovation.
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The OMFIF Bulletin monthly review provides readers with a recap of the meetings that took place over the past month and provides a sample of the forthcoming meetings in the next six months. The December Bulletin review covers meetings in Singapore, London and Geneva. To learn more about OMFIF Meetings and Membership, please email enquiries@omfif.org
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The issue of central bank digital currencies has come to the fore over the last two years. Although a relatively new popular phenomenon, digital currencies have existed for decades. This report, a collaboration between IBM Blockchain World Wire and OMFIF, explains the purpose of wholesale central bank digital currencies, as well as the motivations and business case for central banks to adopt wholesale CBDCs
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The Absa Africa Financial Markets Index, produced by OMFIF, provides a toolkit for countries seeking to strengthen their financial markets infrastructure. It tracks progress on financial market developments annually across a range a countries and indicators. This year's edition extends coverage to three additional countries - Angola, Cameroon and Senegal - and pays special attention to policies to enhance market growth, including financial inclusion and investor education.
DownloadThe ECB has chosen a gradual approach to adjusting its reinvestments of maturing bonds according to its adjusted capital key. Now that its bond-buying programme is coming to an end, there are other ways to stabilise monetary union, through a more concentrated form of risk-sharing, writes Marcello Minenna.
'Even if IMF resources are ample at this moment, that is no guarantee of the future. Turning our backs on a fund quota increase will be seen across the globe as another US snub of multilateralism, global institutions, and a rules-based order,' said Mark Sobel, OMFIF US chairman, quoted in the Financial Times.
Something is going very wrong with the US administration’s effort to reduce the US trade deficit. It is at its highest level in the past 10 years and shows every sign of rising. There are at least three reasons why the deficit is widening and will continue to do so despite increased import protection, writes Desmond Lachman.
A power vacuum seems likely to arise in London over the coming weeks, writes Joergen Oerstroem Moeller. Unless Prime Minister Theresa May miraculously reimposes her will over the Conservative party and convinces parliament of the value of her EU withdrawal deal, Britain will drift towards a no-deal Brexit.
Haihong Gao, OMFIF advisory board member and director of the Research Centre for International Finance in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, joined OMFIF Chairman David Marsh and Programmes Manager Ellie Groves to discuss key developments for the renminbi heading into 2019.
The single supervisory mechanism’s fifth anniversary is likely to coincide with substantive changes. The economy is in a new cyclical phase, and new risks are appearing. This was discussed by Ignazio Angeloni, Member of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank, at a meeting organised by OMFIF.
Urjit Patel's resignation as governor of the Reserve Bank of India echoes that of his predecessor. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is acquiring a reputation for invading the autonomy of institutions, harming India's standing as a safe haven for foreign investors, writes Meghnad Desai.
The degree of uncertainty over the future path of government policy on Brexit calls to mind the days running up to Black Wednesday in September 1992, when the UK attempted to raise base rates twice to defend the pound before crashing out of the European exchange rate mechanism, writes Trevor Greetham.
Roundtable with George Magnus, independent economist at the University of Oxford China Centre
Tue 15 Jan 2019
JANUARY | New York
A city lecture with Vítor Constâncio, vice-president of the European Central Bank who served from June 2010 – May 2018.
Wed 23 Jan 2019
JANUARY | London
A discussion with Tobias Adrian, Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department, IMF
Thu 24 Jan 2019
JANUARY | New York
Roundtable with Nathalie Aufauvre, Director General for Financial Stability and Operations, Banque de France
Thu 24 Jan 2019
JANUARY | New York
Asset and reserve management seminar
Thu 31 Jan 2019
JANUARY
A seminar on strengthening financial stability
Fri 15 Feb 2019
FEBRUARY
The 2018 Absa Africa Financial Markets Index launched in Bali alongside the IMF-World Bank Group meetings. In its second year, the index is a premier indicator of the attractiveness of Africa’s capital markets, for use by investors and asset managers around the world.
Stock market volatility tends to reach its peak in October, underlined by famous crashes in 1929, 1987 and 2008. Cross-currents in the world economy make this October particularly pivotal, especially in the light of the tug of war between good news out of the US and bad news out of China.
Global growth and inflation figures, in addition to rising commodity prices and interest rates, point to the risk of staglation over the summer months. The geopolitical backdrop, and the threat of a US-China trade war, also has a whiff of stagflation about it.
The world is experiencing one of the longest economic expansions since records began and there's no end in sight, with muted inflationary pressures keeping interest rates low. Stock markets like this not too hot, not too cold 'Goldilocks' backdrop.
Global infrastructure financing has fallen short of its potential.Private sector investment and institutional investor capital are often raised as possible solutions for filling the infrastructure funding gap.
This month’s poll focuses on the UK’s top accountancy firms. Participants were asked: ‘With many people attributing at least some of the blame for the collapse of services firm Carillion to the ‘big four’ UK accounting firms, should their oligopoly on the audit market be reviewed?’
