Today Trends

Author: Mei-Hua Chen, National Sun Yat-sen University The #MeToo movement has generated heated debates in Taiwan since early June 2023. Surprisingly, it was the Netflix show ‘Wave Makers’ that belatedly triggered the #MeToo wave in Taiwan, with the line ‘let’s not just let this go’ frequently quoted by victims posting their experiences of sexual harassment on Facebook. As female staff of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) launched the first wave of sexual harassment allegations, Taiwanese President and former chairperson of the DPP Tsai Ing-wen publicly apologised  and promised that the government would adopt a zero-tolerance policy on sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is prevalent in Taiwan, but Taiwanese women were not able to join their female counterparts across the globe when the #MeToo movement emerged in 2017 . One might wonder why it took so long for the #MeToo movement to emerge, given Taiwan’s progressive gender equality and same-sex marriage laws. The emergence o

Author: Michael G Plummer, Johns Hopkins University The United States has been instrumental in leading the post-war global economic system which it helped create. Yet its economic weight has declined over time and strategic competitors in emerging markets are calling for change, including possible ‘decoupling’. Some suggest that the US dollar’s days as the central global currency are numbered. The US dollar’s role continues to be central to the functioning of the international financial system. The Bank of International Settlements estimates that the US dollar is involved in almost 90 per cent of foreign exchange transactions and accounts for 85 per cent of transactions in spot, forward and swap markets. Half of global trade and three-fourths of Asia-Pacific trade are denominated in US dollars. The share of the US dollar held as official foreign exchange reserves has fallen from 61.5 per cent in 2012 to 58.4 per cent in 2022, but so has the euro (from 24.1 per cent to 20.5 per ce

Author: Editorial Board, ANU India’s recent rice export ban has set the bulls running in global food markets. In Asia, rice prices on futures markets have reached highs not seen since the global food crisis of 2008. The export ban comes at an already difficult time: the revocation of the Black Sea grain deal has already constricted supply, and adverse weather conditions have led to floods in China and El Niño conditions in major food exporters like Brazil and Australia. The non-functioning WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism is also in part responsible for ‘anything goes’ trade policies today, including rising food protectionism. India’s export ban in 2008 contributed significantly to the global food crisis fifteen years ago, and the country’s importance in world rice markets has only grown since then. In September last year, it banned the export of broken rice, causing difficulties in many poorer rice-importing countries, particularly in Africa, which rely on Indian supplies. The r

Author: Peter Timmer, Harvard University Both rice and wheat supplies are now facing alarming shortages. The prospect of another world food crisis that would rival those in 2007–08, 1972–74 and 1966–68 is front-page news . In the past three years, the world food economy has been severely stressed by COVID-19 supply disruptions, adverse weather, Russia’s escalation against Ukraine’s grain shipping and storage facilities and the rapid emergence of drought-inducing El Nino. Regional conflicts in Africa, which cut off food supplies to vulnerable populations, have become a constant. The great paradox of food security is that only governments can ensure it, but markets must ‘do the heavy lifting’. Learning to manage this symbiotic relationship has proven a challenge for most countries. Indonesia demonstrated the lessons it has learned when it steered the 2022 G20 Summit in Bali to a dramatic declaration that started with a primer on food security. It is uncertain if India, the current G

Author: Prema-chandra Athukorala, ANU The Sri Lankan economy has begun to show signs of recovery from its worst economic crisis since independence following the US$2.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) reform program that commenced in late March 2023. Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange buffers have improved thanks to the first instalment of the IMF loan, supplemental funding from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank and rising migrant worker remittances and tourist arrivals. This has permitted the government to lift restrictions on essential imports. Inflation is gradually dissipating and long queues at fuel stations and mass street protests have ended. But the government’s arduous task of achieving durable economic stability and putting the economy on a sustainable growth path is yet to begin. A challenge the country continues to face is the massive sovereign debt overhang. When the IMF approved Sri Lanka’s Extended Fund Facility Programme (EFFP) the country’s stock of

Author: Aaqib Md. Shatil, Sydney Policy and Analysis Centre The Boston Consulting Group predicted that Bangladesh’s economy will reach US$1 trillion by 2040. The World Bank also lauded Bangladesh’s strong track record of growth and development and the country is among the top three readymade garments exporters in the world. But despite these encouraging statistics, the country is struggling to pay its energy bills due to a dollar crisis , high capacity charges for power and increasing power generation costs. As a result, frequent power cuts are back. Three key challenges plaguing Bangladesh’s energy sector are overcapacity, growing power generation prices and fuel shortages. The installed capacity of power plants far exceeds the actual demand for power in the country. This overcapacity issue arose from the government’s commissioning and approval of new power plants based on ambitious growth projections without assessing the actual need. Overall utilisation of the power syst

Author: Ying-kit Chan, National University of Singapore July 2023 was a month to remember in Singapore’s political history. Transport Minister S Iswaran was arrested and released on bail. He is now to assist the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau with an investigation into a case uncovered by the anti-graft agency. The case is speculated to be related to Iswaran’s receipt of gifts from billionaire Ong Beng Seng, who brought Formula One Grand Prix racing to Singapore. Speaker of parliament Tan Chuan Jin — once tipped to become one of the candidates for prime minister — resigned over an extramarital affair with Tampines Group Representation Constituency member of parliament (MP) Cheng Li Hui. Senior minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam retired from politics to contest Singapore’s next presidential election, which means that four People’s Action Party (PAP) parliamentary seats are now vacant. At a press conference, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong indicated that these are not examples

Author: Krisna Gupta and Dhany Ratana, Politeknik APP Jakarta Improving Indonesia’s logistics performance presents immense challenges. Indonesian President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo promised to lower logistics costs during his first term campaign in 2014. But Jokowi’s efforts have not achieved their expected results. When Jokowi campaigned in 2014, Indonesia’s logistics cost was 27 per cent of GDP , far higher than Thailand’s 15 per cent, which was his target for 2019. While recent studies estimate the cost has decreased to 21–23 per cent of GDP , it remains above Indonesia’s ASEAN peers. The 2023 Logistics Performance Index ranks Indonesia 61st out of 139 countries, which represents a decline from its 2014 rank of 53rd. During his first term, Jokowi introduced his logistics flagship initiative — the sea highway program ( Tol Laut ). The program was launched at the end of 2015, mainly to stimulate the growth of Indonesia’s periphery areas. Economic growth has always been concentrated

Authors: Taiki Murai and Gunther Schnabl, Leipzig University The Japanese stock market has experienced an impressive upswing. Since January 2023, the Nikkei 225 index has risen by around 30 per cent — by far outperforming US and European stocks. The boom is driven by foreign investors, with Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet’s Japan visit seen as a ‘stamp of approval’ for investing in Japan. The boom is surprising because since early 2023 the corporate sector has had no positive news concerning innovations that would boost the international competitiveness of Japanese products. As the Bank of Japan (BoJ) has hardly lifted interest rates, financing conditions have remained benign, allowing corporations to postpone restructuring. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s new capitalism has not come with comprehensive structural reforms. The Japanese education system continues to fail to produce innovative human capital and the fast-ageing society is becoming an increasing constraint on labou