International Monetary Fund,newsletter

 

Dear MARIA,   In today's edition, we highlight: Unlocking ASEAN’s Full Potential How Southeast Asia Navigated Trade Shifts Analyze This Video on Tokenization F&D: Multilateralism Can Survive the Loss of Consensus Chart of the Week: The AI Boom  ASEAN Unlocking ASEAN’s Full Potential (Credit: IMF Photo) Reducing nontariff barriers can boost ASEAN’s GDP by 4.3 percent over the long run, said the IMF's Managing Director at the 47th ASEAN Summit.   Georgieva noted that over the last few decades ASEAN members have invested in strong policy fundamentals — independent central banks, inflation targeting, fiscal rules — and these investments are paying off.   "Let the first half of this century be remembered as ASEAN’s time—a highly integrated, dynamic community of nations, working for the good of the region and for the good of the world," she emphasized.  Read the Speech ASIA How Southeast Asia Navigated Trade Shifts (Credit: IMF Photo) Southeast Asia navigated the 2018-19 global trade tensions, adapted, and even benefited from it in some cases. Several countries significantly boosted their exports of tariff-targeted products, according to IMF Asia and Pacific Department’s Manos Kitsios and Weining Xin, who detailed their research in an Analytical Corner talk during the Annual Meetings.   Exports of tariff-targeted products from several members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations rose about 10 to 20 percent in the years following the increased trade tensions, they found. However, sectoral gains didn’t always translate into overall export gains.   Today, the environment is even more challenging and complicated, given the much larger global tariff shock. “Sustaining these gains in the ASEAN region over the medium-term will require maintaining open markets, strengthening global value chain links, and enhancing domestic value creation,” Xin said. Watch Here VIDEO Analyze This! Tokenization Money has come a long way since the first uses of shells or coins millennia ago. Today, it may be considered our most used technology, as most people use digitally recorded money. Tokenization is the next step in this evolutionary story, but efficiencies from new technologies often come with new risks. Watch the latest Analyze This video or read the Back to Basics article to learn more. F&D MAGAZINE Multilateralism Can Survive the Loss of Consensus (Credit:Chantal Jahchan) Can adversarial nations work together for the common good? It’s natural to despair over prospects for international cooperation given the state of the world order.   Geopolitical competition is straining the multilateral system, writes Danny Quah of the National University of Singapore, and the most powerful nations cannot seem to agree on how to solve urgent global problems.   But multilateralism is splintering today, not because of geopolitical competition alone, but because it’s an expensive global public good. “It benefits all humanity but distributes costs unevenly across nations.” Read the Article The AI Boom Private sector investment in artificial intelligence, especially in the U.S., is booming. This is propping up U.S. and world growth and delivering supportive financial conditions for all. LEARN MORE Thank you very much for your interest in the Weekend Read! Be sure to let us know what issues and trends we should have on our radar.  Noha Elbadawy  Editor | IMF Weekend Read   nelbadawy@IMF.org Stay connected with the International Monetary Fund:       This email was sent to politikimx@gmail.com on behalf of: International Monetary Fund 1900 Pennsylvania Ave NW · Washington, DC · 20431