Early evidence of the crisis in the developed world induced by the Covid-19 pandemic is trickling in. One set of numbers provide the first estimates of GDP growth in the first quarter of 2020, which includes the period when lockdowns…
At the recent G20 and IMF-WB Spring meetings held virtually in the third week of April 2020, a proposal for the IMF to issue an additional 500 billion of SDRs was blocked by the United States and – astonishingly –…
One of the many symptoms of the economic shock resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic is a sharp depreciation of the Indian rupee vis-à-vis the dollar. The value of the rupee fell from 71.3 to the dollar on February 12 to…
In a show of solidarity, some of India’s opposition leaders have declared the much-delayed relief package (titled Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana) announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on March 26 to mitigate the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic on…
The cooperation between the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and some non-OPEC oil exporters, including oil-major Russia, to limit production and supply of oil and help hold oil prices has collapsed. In a dramatic post-Coronavirus-pandemic turn, discussions to extend…
The global devastation caused by Covid-19 is only just beginning, with the severe threat to public health worsened by the evident inability to cope of most health systems across developing and developed countries. Many states across the world appear to…
Even while the slow growth that followed the Great Recession endures, the world economy is staring at another recession. The OECD Secretariat has reduced its forecast of global GDP growth by half a percentage point to 2.4 per cent, which…
The revival package announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to rescue insolvent Yes Bank smacks of desperation. Having placed a moratorium on the bank’s activities and capping withdrawals by depositors at Rs 50,000, the government has called upon…
The Supreme Court has set aside a circular issued by the Reserve Bank of India in April 2018, which directed all entities regulated by it to “not deal in virtual currencies (VCs) or provide services for facilitating any person or…
It is now well known that the Periodic Labour Force Survey of 2017-18 of the NSSO (the release of which was originally suppressed by the government) revealed a dramatic fall in absolute employment of both men and women, and a…
