Dollar wobbles after Fed pushes back against rate hike speculation
TOKYO (Reuters) – The U.S. dollar was on the defensive on Thursday after the Federal Reserve signalled it was in no hurry to raise interest rates through all of 2023 even as it saw a swift recovery in the world’s largest economy. The dollar’s index against six major currencies stood at 91.488. It had hit […]
Virgin Atlantic set to raise 160 million pounds in new financing
(Reuters) – British airline Virgin Atlantic, which has been hammered by the COVID-19 pandemic like much of the sector, is set to raise 160 million pounds ($222.75 million) in new financing, a spokeswoman for Richard Branson’s airline said in an emailed statement. “We continue to bolster our balance sheet in anticipation of the lifting of […]
First Digital goes live as Israel’s first new bank since 1978
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – First Digital Bank, the first new bank in Israel since 1978, started operations on Sunday on a trial basis, and said it planned to open to the public later in 2021. The bank, which Israel’s banking regulator approved last year, has 140 staff and has begun opening accounts and providing all banking […]
UK firms see sharper 2021 rebound than international peers – Accenture
Getting higher education governance right in South Asia
By Sungsup Ra, Jung Cheol Shin, Unika Shrestha Effective higher education systems are critical for countries to advance. In South Asia, reforming governance structures and practices is a crucial step Higher education systems in South Asia have not kept pace with the changing requirements of the modern global economy. With increasing progress at the secondary level, demand for […]
Building the Smart Grid: The Role of IoT in Powering Tomorrow’s Cities
As the population increases in the urban areas of countries, these cities are facing the obstacles of directing sufficient power to cater to everyone’s needs while employing the functions of these outdated power grids. Built many decades ago, current electric grids are unpredictable in performance, expensive to operate, and unproductive. A single fallen stick from […]
Shaping Africa’s post-Covid recovery: A new eBook
While most African countries have been largely spared so far from the direct health effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, the continent’s economy has been significantly hurt by the economic consequences. This is particularly concerning given Africa’s high prevalence of extreme poverty. A new eBook from CEPR Press focuses on business and household responses to the Covid-19 crisis in Africa, as well as access to international finance, patterns in international borrowing, and country-specific experiences during the pandemic.
Here’s how we can get more people in Asia and the Pacific connected to the internet
Everyone should have reliable access to the internet. If we face another situation like COVID-19 in the future, enhanced internet connectivity will make us better prepared to handle it.
Why aren’t students in Asia getting the education they need?
By Kirsty Newman, Elisabetta Gentile Local decision makers, civil society, teachers, and parents need to be engaged with and driving reforms if teaching is going to shift sufficiently to tackle Asia’s learning crisis. Even before COVID-19, the world was facing a learning crisis with vast swathes of the world’s children not even learning to read and the fallout of […]
On the road to a speedy economic recovery: A broad-based tax system is key to Solomon Islands’ pandemic response
By Matthew Hodge A more sustainable revenue base for the Pacific Island nation could better manage changing economic conditions and the impact of shocks such as COVID-19. While being largely shielded from the health impacts of COVID‑19, the economy of the Solomon Islands has felt a severe shock. Travel restrictions shuttered tourism throughout 2020, major construction […]
