The Covid crisis has shown that the reform of international financial regulation in recent years has not corrected the procyclicality of the financial system. On the contrary, this problem has worsened as a result of the new accounting standards. This article explores the reasons for this and possible policy measures to address the problem, including a more rules-based approach to macroprudential policies and a rebalancing between countercyclical and structural buffers in favor of the former.
Finance
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Capital markets play an essential role in improving the health of the economies within which they operate but never more so than during a period of turmoil. In Europe, policymakers continue to strive to achieve their goals of supporting businesses within a low-carbon agenda, and the Capital Markets Union aims to bring unity among the continent’s capital markets to realize these objectives. Are Europe’s capital markets progressing toward this end?
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Thailand’s COVID-19 experience is not unique: lockdowns, closed borders, shuttered businesses, reduced exports, dropping property values—all adding up to a disastrous year. Tourism is a large component of Thailand’s economic prosperity, so its loss has hit hard. What do the country’s prospects look like as the pandemic grinds on worldwide, although not in Thailand, which combated the virus successfully? And what can it do to soften the economic blow?
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While COVID-19 continues to harm people in every corner of the world, international practices, such as trade, have the potential to produce a multitude of benefits and support economic recovery from the crisis. But trade depends on the availability of trade finance; today, more than ever before, cooperation between public and private sectors is required to both navigate out of the calamity and rejuvenate top pre-COVID-19 goals such as sustainability.
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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has a long history of investing in emerging markets, and its contributions are most constructive during crises. With the global economy reeling from COVID-19, the EBRD ramped up its efforts to be a partner to key players in the markets in which it invests, providing emergency financing and policy direction with a focus on fostering a green economy characterized by inclusion and digitalization.
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By now, it is clear that the global coronavirus pandemic and the government-mandated lockdowns that have resulted have had an unprecedented impact on the global economy. But perhaps what has not been sufficiently illuminated to date is just how critical the situation has become for those groups most at risk from this downturn.
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Middlemen. They have long played an important role in the sustained functioning and revenue-generating ability of the global finance industry. By operating as a crucial link between the providers of capital and the end-users of capital, these intermediaries have been pivotal in enabling financial and monetary systems to operate effectively.
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The last decade or so has seen concerns grow significantly over the long-term health of the dollar. Those concerns have only grown in urgency since the coronavirus arrived on the shores of the United States in February, triggering a nationwide shutdown of the world’s biggest economy.
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Although coronavirus restrictions have continued to be lifted, unemployment in the United Kingdom in the three months to July still increased, official data published on Tuesday, September 15, showed. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the unemployment rate was estimated at 4.1 percent
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The United Kingdom’s annual inflation rate fell sharply in August to its lowest level in almost five years, as the government’s Eat Out to Help Out discount-meal scheme contributed significantly towards driving down the cost of living. Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday, September 16,