Read more about the article Central Bank Digital Currencies in Africa

Central Bank Digital Currencies in Africa

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are digital versions of cash issued and regulated by central banks. They correspond to digital money denominated in the national unit of account and liability of the central bank. By mid-2022, almost 100 CBDCs were being subject to research or testing. Two had already been launched, one of them in Nigeria (eNaira) and the other in the Bahamas. According to a survey by the BIS (Bank for International Settlements) last year, 90% of central banks there approached were undertaking CBDC analysis or projects in the previous year, with 26% already implementing pilot projects (Kosse and Mattei, 2022). Potential benefits from CBDCs include the facilitation of financial inclusion, more resilient domestic payments, and enhanced competition. Beyond improving access to money, payment efficiency and lower transaction costs may be attained. On the other hand, some risks and challenges will have to be faced. As we approach in this chapter, African central banks are part of such a global trend. Most are yet in the beginning (research and analysis), while Nigeria has already issued a retail CBDC, and South Africa and Ghana are implementing pilot projects (wholesale and retail, respectively). Without CBDCs can enhance the public good nature of the monetary system, with the central bank at the core of safe, low-cost, and inclusive payments. Some broad risks and challenges are also highlighted. First, we summarize how a monetary system can be strengthened with digital finance and new private forms of digital money if not being based on cryptocurrencies. Second, we approach the motivations of African central banks for CBDCs. Finally, we call attention to some of the challenges and risks accompanying such a move to CBDCs.

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Read more about the article Growth Implications of a Fractured Trading System

Growth Implications of a Fractured Trading System

An assessment of the implications for growth—particularly the costs—of moving towards a fractured trading system can use as a benchmark what happened during the period of what is usually called hyper-globalization or globalization 2.0 Substantial growth in GDP per capita in emerging markets and developing economies, as well as reductions in poverty rates and lower per capita GDP inequality among countries were major achievements. The transmission channels of the trade fragmentation will be a reversal of the path by which those gains were attained.

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Read more about the article Guerra por procuração nas tecnologias de energia limpa

Guerra por procuração nas tecnologias de energia limpa

As posições de China e EUA nas tecnologias de energia limpa estão hoje inversas às de semicondutores. A transição para a energia limpa está exigindo tanto a inovação científica quanto a expansão em grande escala de tecnologias estabelecidas. Os EUA permanecem excelentes na primeira, incluindo-se aí o trabalho científico na captura e no armazenamento de carbono e na sua remoção. Por outro lado, nas indústrias comerciais que estão na fase de expansão, os EUA estão atrás da China nas tecnologias de descarbonização mais críticas: solar, eólica, baterias e hidrogênio..

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Read more about the article Fiscal Space in African Economies and Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)

Fiscal Space in African Economies and Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)

Base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) involving multinational companies is a complex, multi-dimensional problem resulting from loopholes and inconsistencies between countries’ tax systems. Addressing it requires coordinated action at the international level. Several organizations have taken initiatives in this direction, including the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which, with the support of the G20, launched an ambitious project to combat BEPS in 2013. The OECD has proposed 15 measures to strengthen international tax rules in various areas, including transfer pricing, combating harmful tax practices, preventing treaty abuse, and promoting transparency and tax information exchange. This study analyzes the challenges related to the fiscal space in Africa and examines the impact of BEPS on African economies. We examine the factors that exacerbate BEPS in the region, including the absence of relevant international tax laws, the dynamics of tax treaty negotiations, and limited tax administration capacity. We will also assess the negative impact of BEPS in Africa and discuss current initiatives to address BEPS in Africa, such as those proposed by the OECD. Finally, we discuss the challenges and offer policy recommendations for increasing fiscal space and reducing BEPS in Africa.

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Read more about the article Por que cresce o uso de moedas locais em pagamentos internacionais

Por que cresce o uso de moedas locais em pagamentos internacionais

Pares de países têm acordado liquidar transações comerciais e financeiras entre si em suas moedas locais, em geral mediante acordos bilaterais entre seus bancos centrais. A China tem sido capaz de usar sua moeda para liquidar metade de suas transações externas de comércio e investimento. O uso crescente de moedas locais em pagamentos externos será parte do que já chamamos aqui de “desdolarização devagar e limitada”. A “fragmentação” parcial do sistema global de pagamentos está em curso.

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Read more about the article Rising Use of Local Currencies in Cross-Border Payments

Rising Use of Local Currencies in Cross-Border Payments

Pairs of countries have agreed to settle commercial and financial transactions with each other in their local currencies, usually facilitated through bilateral agreements between their central banks. China has been able to use its currency to settle half of its foreign trade and investment transactions. The growing use of local currencies in external payments will be part of what we have already called a “slow and bounded de-dollarization”. A partial fragmentation of the global payments system is underway.

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Read more about the article Os custos das fraturas no comércio global

Os custos das fraturas no comércio global

A frequência e a abrangência de medidas comerciais e políticas industriais discriminando agentes externos, particularmente nas economias avançadas, aumentaram no passado recente. Tem-se assistido a uma variedade de políticas públicas nessa direção, como a imposição de tarifas, o endurecimento de regras para investimentos estrangeiros e a renegociação de acordos comerciais para incluir termos mais restritivos. Uma fragmentação geoeconômica global traria danos particularmente para economias emergentes e em desenvolvimento

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Read more about the article GVCs, Resilience, and Efficiency Considerations: Improving Trade and Industrial Policy Design and Coordination

GVCs, Resilience, and Efficiency Considerations: Improving Trade and Industrial Policy Design and Coordination

The COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have reignited the debate on efficiency versus resilience in international trade and global value chains (GVCs). This policy brief[ (i) explains the contrasting perspectives of the private sector (primarily seeking efficiency) and the public sector (aiming for resilience); (ii) demonstrates that GVCs are still flourishing, despite some mounting signals of a geo-fragmentation leading to a greater reallocation of the GVCs; and (iii) provides recommendations to help the G20 navigate the balancing act between efficiency and resilience considerations. Domestic policy design in the G20 countries and international coordination among these countries is essential.

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Read more about the article Para onde vão as taxas naturais de juros + Para onde vai a Selic

Para onde vão as taxas naturais de juros + Para onde vai a Selic

1. Quão durável será a mudança de regime macroeconômico nas economias mais ricas desde 2021? Passado o momento de aperto monetário e consequente estabilização inflacionária em patamares mais baixos, em dois anos ou mais voltarão as taxas de juros nas economias avançadas a níveis tão baixos quanto os das últimas décadas? Ou algo fundamental mudou, aumentando a frequência de choques de preços e a necessidade de juros mais altos? Para os economistas, essa pergunta equivale a: “para onde vão as taxas ‘naturais’ de juros?” 2. Caso se mantenham estáveis os parâmetros estruturais de demanda e oferta da economia brasileira, a Selic nominal deverá estar algo em torno de 7,5% ao ano em fins de 2025, ou seja, a soma da taxa real neutra de 4,5% e da meta de 3% de inflação.

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Read more about the article External Debt Management in Africa: A Proposal for a ‘Debt Relief for Climate Initiative’

External Debt Management in Africa: A Proposal for a ‘Debt Relief for Climate Initiative’

A decade of poor growth, increased poverty, and political instability followed the serious debt difficulties that emerged worldwide in the 1980s. There are concerns that the looming debt crisis could create similar challenges and result in even more severe consequences. However, the current economic climate differs in many ways from that of the 1980s, when international banks and Paris Club creditors held most of the external debt. Today, the profile of creditors is more diverse, and the mechanisms established by the G20 and multilateral development banks to address this new crisis are partly based on outdated approaches that are no longer effective in adapting to new realities. As a result, a more holistic and integrated approach is required to address the challenges of external debt faced by developing countries, particularly in Africa. Such an approach should take into account the issue of over-indebtedness while also addressing climate protection, the most pressing issue of the 21st century. A promising solution to tackling these challenges could be a new debt reduction initiative focused on climate action. This policy brief recommends a ‘Debt Relief for Climate Initiative’ that will link debt reduction with investments in climate adaptation and mitigation projects.

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Read more about the article An “unthinkable” U.S. public debt default

An “unthinkable” U.S. public debt default

The nominal debt ceiling is a crude and rudimentary barrier against excess public debt in the United States. Hope remains that the White House and Republicans will reach a deal on raising the debt ceiling in time to avoid what Secretary Yellen called "unthinkable" and "catastrophic". Some framework to deal with fiscal matters is needed, instead of nominal spending caps. But this transition need not happen via financial shocks and a possible default on public debt.

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Read more about the article A possibilidade de calote na dívida pública dos Estados Unidos + E se não houver acordo nos EUA sobre a dívida pública?

A possibilidade de calote na dívida pública dos Estados Unidos + E se não houver acordo nos EUA sobre a dívida pública?

Tem-se, no momento, uma repetição de momentos passados de tensão por causa de um aparente impasse na decisão congressual sobre adiar ou aliviar a restrição do teto nominal de divida publica nos EUA. Permanece a esperança de que a Casa Branca e os republicanos alcancem um acordo a tempo de evitar o que Yellen chamou de “impensável” e “catastrófico” - inclusive uma inadimplência no serviço da dívida. Um “inimaginável” calote na dívida pública do país teria consequências nefastas, escreve Otaviano Canuto

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Read more about the article Unpacking the Relationship between Crude Oil Financialization and Volatility: The Tale of Speculative Positions

Unpacking the Relationship between Crude Oil Financialization and Volatility: The Tale of Speculative Positions

This paper explores the impact of commodities financialization on crude oil prices and their volatility. While some commodities have been market movers for centuries, introducing others, such as oil, to the financial markets is more recent. The increase in investors' appetite for commodity investing has led to commodities’ financialization, which is often considered an amplifier of commodity price volatility. This paper focuses on the relationship between crude oil prices and the financialization argument through the commitment of traders undertaking long and short positions on the WTI crude oil to study their impact on spot prices and, thus, on crude oil's volatility. It reviews recent swings in oil prices and the correlation between prices of crude oil and speculative positions in financial markets. It also focuses on the relationship between crude oil prices, speculative positions, and volatility represented by the CBOE Crude Oil Volatility ETF through econometric models. The aim is to bring additional information to the literature on whether commodities financialization, specifically the presence of hedgers on crude oil markets, are linked to the volatility in energy markets. We rely on tools such as correlation levels, the Granger Causality test, Vector Autoregression, and Fully Modified Least Square models to study if additional speculative activity in the Crude Oil market is responsible for adding pressure to oil prices on financial markets. We then conclude with the direction of the link between prices and speculative positions, if investors are shaping the market prices and contributing to higher volatility.

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