Across the Caribbean, increasing pressure on governments to manage high levels of indebtedness and fiscal imbalances is placing severe limitations on their ability to effectively support broad-based social and economic development. Small states are especially vulnerable to the international economic environment, and the region continues to struggle after the 2008 financial crisis hit traditional growth sectors - tourism, commodities, and financial services –particularly hard. Furthermore, the region’s susceptibility to natural disasters has contributed to a weak economic recovery and has left little public sector capacity to focus on forward-looking growth opportunities. The external environ
Frederic Neumann took on the imposing task of analyzing challenges facing Asia today and deliberating over its future prospects. Neumann described the present situation as a balancing act involving delicate and difficult choices in the midst of miscellaneous pressures. The discussion started with a brief history of how the West and the East have gotten where they are today; the former stagnating and the latter soaring. He attributed the troubles in the West as the fallout of the 2008 financial crisis, and said Asia's strong growth is due to the region’s ability to push up leverage and offset slow demand from the West. Neumann argued that the problem with debt-driven growth is that it is no
Photo: Mishaal Al Gergawi speaking at the 2017 Gaidar Forum in Moscow, Russia StartFragment The situation in West Asia may seem hopeless. Syria is in a civil war that has turned the country into a global breeding ground for extremism. Iraq continues to struggle under sectarian and secessionist tensions, weak governance and high levels of corruption. A resolution to the conflict in Yemen remains elusive with a looming humanitarian crisis. Bahrain’s internal tensions are far from resolved. Lebanon may have finally been able to agree on a president, but it’s unclear what its path for normalisation is. There is an overarching theme in the region, the resolution of which would have far-reaching c
Experts gathered at the Washington, DC campus for a discussion on the consequences of President Trump’s executive order, “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States.” The order suspends the US refugee admission program, severely restricts entry from seven majority-Muslim countries, and bars all Syrian refugees from entering the country indefinitely. Michel Gabaudan said that the order risks conflating victims with perpetrators by associating refugees with terrorists. He also reminded the audience that the situation in the United States is completely different from that in Europe. Refugees who were able to enter the US were all vetted before arrival, while tho
The outlook for the American economy continues to be bright and improving in the near term, according to Roger Ferguson of financial services giant, TIAA. The consensus view among economists is for sustained growth globally, although at a slower rate than recent expansions, Ferguson reported. Asked by moderator John Lipsky to comment on the most pressing economic challenges for the new US administration, Ferguson said these issues include boosting growth, managing tax cuts and reforms, infrastructure building, and controlling inflation. Regarding the effectiveness of post-2008 financial sector reforms, including Dodd-Frank regulations, Ferguson acknowledged that capital in the banking sect
Islam inherently promotes peace and mutual understanding, argued the scholar Shaykh Abdullah Bin Bayyah at a special roundtable conversation hosted by the Foreign Policy Institute. Bin Bayyah, listed by the Muslim 500 as the 9th most influential Muslim in the world, discussed how his organization, the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies, uses Islamic traditions to challenge the view that religion is often used to justify rather than solve problems of violence. Bin Bayyah's forum uses a methodology based on Islamic texts and traditions and refutes the argument that Islam promotes violence by showing that it encourages peace. Forum scholars also challenge other thinkers, who claim