"Norway also maximizes the amount of oil and gas available for exports by keeping its own petroleum consumption to a minimum by relying heavily on electricity from dams and other water power." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/b...

Ecuador / diesel price increase: "Ecuador's powerful Conaie Indigenous group, credited with unseating three presidents between 1997 and 2005, decried a "violent repression" of the fuel protests and urged its supporters Tuesday to "stand firm." sg.news.yahoo.com/ecuadors-pre...

"The European Union executive will as a result push to delay the [deforestation directive] law's entry into force by one more year, to late 2026, he added. The postponement has to be approved by member states and the European Parliament." sg.news.yahoo.com/eu-proposes-...

Nauru / IMF Article IV conveys the unusual sovereign debt structure: "External debt consists of EXIM bank loans from Taiwan Province of China (AU$19.7 million)—which were used to purchase an aircraft for Air Nauru and have been serviced by grants — and informal debt relating to ..."

Djibouti / IMF Art IV staff report. The sovereign arrears situation is quite broad ... www.imf.org/en/Publicati...

“The US is saying all energy is good energy. They are saying we should also accept other energy, not just renewables,” one development bank official said." www.ft.com/content/24c6...

"An insurance industry that enthusiastically underwrites the most extreme anti-climate risks — from thermal coal to Arctic drilling — while simultaneously exposing itself to steepening losses on natural catastrophe cover is similarly warped." www.ft.com/content/dd85...

Zambia: "While more intensive [debt] negotiations started with TDB two months' ago, Nkulukusa said there has been little progress with Afrexim, which fears its credit rating will be slashed if it is no longer regarded as having so-called 'preferred creditor status'." www.msn.com/en-us/money/...

Ethiopia / new Central Bank governor: "Eyob also holds a doctorate from the University of Maryland in an analysis of Ethiopia's political economy since the end of the civil war in 1991. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment." www.msn.com/en-us/news/o...

FT article on WB securitization initiative: "Loans to governments are seen as difficult to slice up for private investors in this way [collateralized loan obligations], because top-tier development banks such as the World Bank usually benefit from preferred creditor status on these debts ..."

"Indonesian politics, such as those of other Asian countries, have become increasingly dynastic, says Yoes Kenawas, a postdoctoral research fellow at Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia in Jakarta ..."

Angola / IMF post-financing assessment staff report cautions "potentially unsustainable financing options ...Costly short-term external debt. Resorting to costly short-term debt—often collateralized with complex terms that may carry implicit costs and ..."

IMF Global Debt Database: "In low-income countries, recent debt dynamics reflect a range of additional factors. They include more limited financial development, tight liquidity conditions, & crowding-out effects linked to the sovereign debt-private debt nexus." www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Art...

Zimbabwe: "The work on 6 ageing units at the Hwange [coal] thermal power station is expected to take 4 years, July Moyo said during a post-cabinet briefing []. Jindal Africa will recover its investment from revenue generated by electricity sales from the plant." sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/zimbabw...

Professor James Robinson will deliver a live online lecture to a World Bank conference at 9:30AM EDT this morning on the potential of politics as a catalyst for policy reforms. live.worldbank.org/en/event/202...

Bangladesh / World Bank report on health and economic risks from rising temperatures. A striking finding from the report's survey data analysis: work days lost for mental health at least as large as for physical health, and also rising with heat. openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/pub...

Vietnam / IMF Art IV press release. A phrase here for the experts on these readouts ("the point was made that"). "IMF Board] Directors recommended further efforts to boost domestic demand and reduce external imbalances, including by investing in upgrading key infrastructure ..."

Mongolia / IMF A4 staff report. Context is a decline in coal prices (and volumes?) adversely affecting export revenues, but debt management has been impactful. Sizable PBOC swap as a buffer with Eurobond redemptions still coming. International Investment Position (IIP) deeply negative ...

Mexico / prospectus (SEC format) for the 5 billion euro bond issuance related to the PEMEX transaction. www.sec.gov/Archives/edg...

Ecuador: "Under a decree signed by president Daniel Noboa, the price of diesel for the automotive sector will rise to $2.80 per gallon from Saturday until Dec 11. A price stabilisation mechanism will follow to protect consumers from global price swings." www.msn.com/en-my/news/o...

An excellent obituary for Andy Huse (with a tragic revelation within it); he showed that an argument between Miami and Tampa about who "invented" the Cuban Sandwich had a simple and complex answer: "Once prepared by highly skilled meat carvers for Cuba’s elite, the layers of ingredients ..."

IMF working paper on benefits & costs of domestic debt restructuring (DDR): "The design and instruments of DDRs also play a crucial role in shaping their outcomes. While face value reductions provide the most significant debt relief, ..."

It was great to have Gregor at the WB and glad to have the potential going forward for more exchanges with the academic community on climate and environmental challenges.

"Residents disagree about the best ways to mitigate flooding, however. Flood-proofing methods that block water, such as flood walls, simply divert it to others’ properties, according to Brian Turner, president and CEO of the Preservation Society of Charleston." www.wsj.com/real-estate/...

The Economic Value of Weather Forecasts -- WB Policy Research Working Paper: "While academic research provides rigorous, sector-specific quantifications, policy reports often rely on back-of-the-envelope calculations and benefit transfer ..." @mlinsenmeier.bsky.social @martatalevi.bsky.social

"In a sign of the continuing chaos in Nepal, where many official documents and records have gone up in smoke, Ms. Karki’s online biography was unavailable. In fact, the entire Supreme Court’s website was not operational." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/12/w...

Uganda / WB Country Climate and Development Report. Uganda has fairly good household survey data, hence ability of the report to illustrate the general point that vulnerability to climate change is a combination of exposure and coping capacity. www.worldbank.org/en/news/pres...

“Diella is the first cabinet member who isn’t physically present, but is virtually created by AI,” Rama said during a speech unveiling his new cabinet. She will help make Albania "a country where public tenders are 100% free of corruption." sg.news.yahoo.com/albania-appo...

"Risk is bad now, but climate change will make storms and wildfires worse. Not that long ago a year with $100 billion in insured natural catastrophe losses was considered significant. Now that has become the norm and the industry is pushing toward $150 billion." www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

“A perception of ruling elites as being both corrupt & ineffective at delivering a plausible path forward has created a structural basis for major crises,” said Paul Staniland, a politics professor specializing in South Asia at Univ of Chicago." apnews.com/article/nepa... @pstaniland.bsky.social

Indonesia: "Earlier this year, Prabowo established a new sovereign wealth fund and appointed high-profile advisers known for risk-taking in business and investment, with the aim of strategically leveraging more of its assets to spur growth ..."

Prof. William Goetzmann (Yale SoM) in WSJ: "And, in fact, researchers found that since 1900, a long-term U.S. investor who stuck with a diversified stock portfolio in global markets earned returns of about 9.5% a year ..."

Nepal: An IMF program review Board date (6th ECF review) that had been listed for 15 September has been removed. www.imf.org/en/About/exe...

Kenya debt swap: "A debt for food security allows a country to exchange existing debt for lower-cost debt facilities, typically with backing by an outside group, by agreeing to use the savings for food-related schemes." www.msn.com/en-us/news/o...

Sri Lanka / World Bank Public Finance Review. "In 2022, the total number of taxpayers in Sri Lanka was about 3 percent of the population." documents.worldbank.org/en/publicati...

Nepal: "In particular, many young people are angry that the children of political leaders — so-called Nepo Kids — seem to enjoy luxurious lifestyles and numerous advantages while most youth struggle to find work." apnews.com/article/nepa...

Colombia / SEC 18-K filing. Topic is the IMF Flexible Credit Line. "On April 26, 2024, the Executive Board of the IMF approved a successor two-year arrangement under the Flexible Credit Line (“FCL”) for SDR 6,133.5 bn, equivalent to about U.S.$8.1 billion ... The Executive Board of the IMF ..."

Colombia. This is one for the Total Return Swap enthusiasts. The underlying transaction is a shift of some debt into Swiss Francs. (Source: Colombia 18-K filing with SEC). www.sec.gov/Archives/edg...

"Ninety One’s Webster still expects Indonesia, Kuwait, Oman and Nigeria to sell debt by yearend. Oil giant Saudi Aramco is planning a dollar sukuk issuance this month, ..."

Nepal: "“Stop the ban on social media. Stop corruption, not social media,” the crowds outside Parliament chanted, waving the red and blue national flags. Monday’s rally was called the protest of Gen Z, which generally refers to people born between 1995 and 2010." apnews.com/article/nepa...

"Remadji Hoinathy, a security analyst at the Institute for Security Studies, told the AP the blockade will cause a shortage, which will exacerbate economic difficulties and deter fuel transporters in the region from delivering to Mali." www.msn.com/en-us/news/w...

Indonesia: "However, in recent years, Indrawati had accommodated many presidents’ ambitious programs, which resulting in increasing the government debt and diminishing the credibility of her own fiscal policy, [Fadhil] Hasan [IDEF] added ..."

Doing an office move at the moment where the question what to do with these things has indeed arisen, though I haven't yet achieved class consciousness of the "lanyard class." www.ft.com/content/0d44...

Mozambique: "Global energy firm TotalEnergies, French utility Électricité de France and Mozambique’s Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa will develop the plant [Mphanda Nkuwa]. The World Bank is providing a mix of support ..."

"With multiple fevers circulating at once, health experts say Bangladesh urgently needs reinforced hospitals, expanded testing and year-round mosquito control drives to prevent the situation from spiralling further." www.msn.com/en-gb/health...

Angola / IMF post-financing assessment. Context is a recent rocky attempt at further limiting fuel subsidies: "Near-term financing pressures remain elevated due to sizable maturing external debt ... Noting the delay to 2028, they emphasized the importance of advancing the fuel subsidy reform, ..."

Sri Lanka / IMF working paper on lessons from its debt restructuring. "NPV relief for total restructured debt was around 41 percent NPV/NPV (at 9 percent discount rate corresponding approximately to the bond restructuring exit yields) in the baseline case of the MLBs ..."

"[Mark] Bohlund said Kenya's financing needs in the 25/26 fiscal year had risen due to delays in IMF and World Bank funds, prompting the government to redirect the proceeds from the US$1.5 billion eurobond sale in February from their planned use ..." @mbohlund.bsky.social

Chad IMF staff reports. Spot the difference in wording about the G20 common framework between (1) the 2024 Article IV &(2) the 2025 ECF request. (1), DSA section para 7: "The debt treatment under the G20 Common Framework has been implemented and has significantly ..." www.imf.org/en/Publicati...

Ecuador / Visit of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Given that the context seemed to be mainly about security issues, notable that the IMF came up several times in the bilateral press conference: [Rubio] We also spoke about the IMF. This is something that is the purview of the US Treasury, ..."