In The News

Week in Economics: Sign of Slowdown

Anna Fifield August 27, 2004
A Financial Times weekly roundup of economic news demonstrates a projected slowdown in the world economy. In China, dependence on agricultural imports has raised concerns about food security, and the IMF is projecting a significant reduction in the country's economic growth rate. Despite a continued increase in Japanese exports, meanwhile, domestic investment and consumer spending in...

Ex-Dictator Had Millions in U.S. Bank

Andres Oppenheimer July 15, 2004
Augusto Pinochet, the dictator of Chile from 1973 until 1990, was found by US Senate investigators to have deposited upwards of $8 million in Washington-based Riggs Bank under names of phony firms. According to American law, US banks are supposed to investigate deposits of foreign government officials for drug trafficking or corruption problems before opening an account. The Senate...

Death Knell for Cross-Border Leasing Deals

Heidi Sylvester June 25, 2004
When the US Congress voted to close a tax law loophole this month, some German city governments began to worry. Over the past seven years Germany municipalities have signed more than 150 cross-border leasing agreements with US investors. Under the agreements, Americans leased German infrastructure facilities – sewage plants, waste water facilities, etc. – and wrote off the lump-sum cost from...

Islamic Finance: Banks Have Their Work Cut Out

Siow Li Sen June 10, 2004
Islamic finance is growing at an estimated 15 per cent a year, reports this Straits Times article, but bankers in Singapore are doing little to seize the opportunity for growth. Islamic banking is popular in some Southeast Asian countries because of its certainty and principles, which prohibit usury, or the charging of interest on loans; its ethical and equitable mode of finance is derived from...

China: The Missing Member at the G-8 Table

Jeffrey E. Garten June 3, 2004
China's key position in the world economy is increasingly obvious. A slew of indicators, from car usage and steel output to population size, shows that China cannot be ignored. Yet, writes Jeffrey E. Garten, Dean of the Yale School of Management, China will not be attending the upcoming Group of Eight summit in Georgia. Americans and others should wake up to China's importance for even...

US Firm to Control Chinese Bank

Peter S. Goodman June 1, 2004
China's banking industry has long been the focus of reform-oriented economists and policy-makers in Beijing. Corruption, a history of bad loans, and banks' obligations to lend to unprofitable state-owned businesses have caused some observers to call the sector the Achilles heel of China's booming economy. Yet things may be changing. After negotiations that concluded this weekend...

Liverpool Bid

May 19, 2004
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has recently expressed interest in purchasing a 30 percent stake in England’s Liverpool football club, a move which has raised eyebrows in Thailand. Thai regulatory measures might make such an investment problematic, as there is uncertainty about whether foreign investments undertaken by the government must be approved by the central bank. The proposed bid...