Glimpses from around the world that will make you smile and cry.
The stock and bond markets told Trump firmly that any idea of isolating China would lead to harming the US economy and this forced Trump to backtrack, points out Aakar Patel.
'When Prime Minister Modi met President Trump, they agreed to initiate a bilateral trade dialogue.' 'It makes sense to give these negotiations a chance.'
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das and Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg are also expected to attend the meetings.
The Budget should undertake further reductions in import tariffs and seriously consider an announcement of India's intention to join one or both of the two Asian mega-regional free trade agreements, suggests Shankar Acharya, former chief economic adviser to the Government of India.
Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan today criticised multilateral institutions like the IMF and the World Bank saying "they are not immune to cognitive capture".
'We are going to need more technical people in government.' 'You can't expect a generalist to understand the complicated world of financial engineering.' 'I regret to say that most of our politicians have no competence to deal with these things. Nor is there a willingness to learn.'
"India did a self-assessment (by the Committee on Financial Sector Assessment, or CFSA) of its financial sector in 2009. This has given us the confidence to get our financial sector evaluated by international financial institutions like IMF and the World Bank. We have voluntarily sought a full-fledged Financial Sector Assessment Programme," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said at the second International Finance Conference at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.
The Reserve Bank of India on Friday raised the GDP growth projection for the current fiscal to 7 per cent from 6.5 per cent earlier on buoyant domestic demand and higher capacity utilisation in the manufacturing sector. Announcing the bi-monthly monetary policy, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, however, flagged protracted geopolitical turmoil and global economic fragmentation as risks to the growth outlook. The RBI kept interest rates unchanged at 6.5 per cent in Friday's monetary policy statement.
A feature of this year's BRICS summit was economic cooperation.
The World Bank on Wednesday cut India's economic growth projection to 6% for the current fiscal from 6.9% estimated earlier and blamed the slow down on corruption scandals and a host of policy issues including uncertainty in tax policies.
"Growth is expected to moderate gradually in China... pick up in India, and remain broadly stable in the Asean-5 region."
Pakistan's efforts for the peace process in Afghanistan would be remembered for long, he said.
Rajan says that China should not be solely blamed for global imbalances. Rajan is hopeful but not confident of reviving Doha trade talks.
India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti said India remains on the side of peace.
'People who come from IMF-World Bank backgrounds have no dynamism at all,' Subramanian Swamy said.
People like Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram, who as finance minister had fully supported the NPS, refuse to exercise their moral and political influence to try and stop Ashok Gehlot and others hell-bent on wrecking the states' finances, notes Virendra Kapoor.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Friday retained Pakistan on its 'grey list' for failing to check money laundering, leading to terror financing, and asked Islamabad to investigate and prosecute senior leaders and commanders of United Nations-designated terror groups, including Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar.
The principal topic of hot debate in the previous week-end's IMF-World Bank meetings was the need for realignment of currencies to reduce the global imbalances (read US deficit and unemployment).
Managing recovery is a bigger challenge than managing crisis, says the Reserve Bank of India governor D Subbarao
FM P Chidambaram is expected to address the IMF-WB's spring meeting on April 12 & 13 that is likely to be dominated by the impact of US recession, global inflation & consequent credit crunch leading to global economic slowdown. He is expected to take up India's concerns of rising global food & commodity prices, besides spiraling crude oil prices in the backdrop of domestic inflation, which has touched a 3-year high of 75%. India will take up hike in assistance issue with WB.
"The FATF plenary decided continuation of Pakistan in 'Grey List' till its next meeting to be held in October," an official privy to the development told PTI.
The global agency said there are "serious deficiencies" on the part of the country in checking terror-financing and it lacks an effective system to deal with it.
The five-nation grouping BRICS on Tuesday resolved to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including the cross-border movement of terrorists, and vowed to step up joint efforts in building support for an India-backed global framework to effectively deal with the menace.
The Paris-based global watchdog for curbing terror financing and money laundering will hold its virtual plenary session from October 21 to 23. It will review Pakistan's progress on the 27-point action plan.
India has been maintaining that Pakistan extends regular support to terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen, whose prime target is India, and has urged FATF to take action against Islamabad.
A dossier will be given to the FATF, an international terror financing watchdog.
India is apprehensive about the Taliban's return as it would mean loss of access to Baluch rebels and help to the restive tribals of Waziristan. This would be a setback to the Indian strategy of returning the compliments of death by a thousand cuts to Pakistan, notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
We understand the electoral compulsions, the desperate need for the BJP to have at least 50 per cent of the Hindus vote for them in Uttar Pradesh in a few months. For that, you need polarisation, put your own Muslim compatriots on the 'other' side. This is how your domestic politics runs contrary to your national, strategic interest, warns Shekhar Gupta.
India's likely medium-term potential growth will almost certainly be markedly lower than that experienced in pre-pandemic years, warns Shankar Acharya, former chief economic advisor to the Government of India.
Both India and China should respect each other and resolve issues through dialogues and join hands together for peace and prosperity, Sitharaman said.
A statement issued by the Interior Ministry also said the crackdown on Jaish 'has been taken in line with the decision of the NSC meeting'.
Seeking to wriggle out of the FATF's grey list, Pakistan has imposed tough financial sanctions on 88 banned terror groups and their leaders, including Hafiz Saeed, Masood Azhar and Dawood Ibrahim, by ordering the seizure of all of their properties and freezing of bank accounts, a media report said.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will pitch for quota and governance reforms in the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund.
India's stand at the FATF plenary and other related discussions have always been consistent regarding Pakistan.
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