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Saturday, October 17, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Financial Crisis
FINANCE-US: AIG's Offshore Strategies Hide a Scam
The company getting the biggest U.S. bailout operated a scam to help clients cheat on U.S. taxes, regulators say. It is AIG, American International Group, the world's largest insurance conglomerate.FINANCE-US: AIG's Past Could Return To Haunt
The U.S. will invest 40 billion dollars in American International Group (AIG), and will provide credit lines that could bring federal funding up to 144 billion dollars. It's the largest subsidy that a U.S. corporation has ever received.
Q&A: ‘We Were Very Good Students of Neo-liberal Ideology’
A region that has enthusiastically embraced free market economics since the collapse of state socialism is facing new socio-economic and political challenges.
SRI LANKA: Terror, Recession Put Tourism in the Doldrums
With the sun glistening on waves that gently lap its clean sandy beaches and coral reefs, Hikkaduwa is the perfect tourist paradise. But there is one thing missing -tourists.ECONOMY-BALKANS: Just When Hope Was At Hand
The Balkans region, crippled by the wars of the 1990s and then pushed through painful transition to a market economy, has been hit hard by the global economic crisis just when everyone believed the time had come for promising new development.LATIN AMERICA: Summit Marks Distance from US
A motion calling for an end to the United States embargo against Cuba accentuated the anti-imperialist tone taken on by the summit of Latin American and Caribbean leaders that ended Wednesday in this tourist resort in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia.ECONOMY-US: Where Have the Bailout Billions Gone?
A new U.S. investigative panel is demanding answers from the U.S. Treasury about how the agency has spent money from the 700-billion-dollar bailout fund.CHINA/US: Rivals, Partners in Asia
With the Six Party Talks to denuclearise North Korea once again on the ropes and the world reeling from a deepening financial crisis, the United States is looking to China for help.
POLITICS-MALAYSIA: Protestors Pedal to Parliament, Brave Police
Dozens of cyclists promoting workers' rights are on an extraordinary odyssey across the country, scheduled to climax with the handing over of memorandums in Parliament on Thursday.SOUTH AMERICA: Mercosur Shares Social Concerns, Diverges on Economy
Concern over the social impact of the global economic crisis dominated the discussions at the Mercosur Summit on Tuesday, but economic proposals by some presidents underscored their ideological differences.CARIBBEAN: Feeling the Effects of Global Recession
Maria Harvey of St. Lucia was looking forward to a bonus this Christmas, but when her employers presented her with an envelope on Monday, it left her shattered.
ICELAND: Financial Crisis Hits New Development
The disastrous state of the Icelandic banking system means that Icelandic energy and aluminium companies can no longer find willing overseas lenders as before.ECONOMY-CHINA: Yuan’s Slide No Power Game
Recent downward movements of the Chinese yuan have been interpreted here as political statements aimed at the incoming administration of United States president-elect Barack Obama to respect China’s sovereignty rights on the currency issue.SRI LANKA: Oil Hedging Deal Turning Into Billion-Dollar Scam
As global oil prices dive, the Sri Lankan government finds itself saddled with a complicated oil hedging deal with two foreign banks that could cost the country close on one billion US dollars and has brought charges of high corruption upon state officials.EUROPE: What Trade Can Have To Do With Trade Unions
The European Union has decided to push ahead with plans to secure a free trade agreement with Colombia despite the widespread abuse of labour rights in that country.LEBANON: Protected Against Melting Down
With the recent turmoil taking global economies by storm, industrialised countries have witnessed their growth levels slowly erode. How will the regional economy fare as dark clouds congregate over the Levant?DEVELOPMENT: Richest Countries Also the Stingiest
As the biggest economy in the world, the United States is hardly living up to its potential to promote global prosperity and boost development in poor countries, according to the 2008 Commitment to Development Index (CDI) released Thursday.
Q&A: Crises Are Left for Another Day…
The Doha Financing for Development Conference is over and many are now wondering how it went and what really happened. Sylvia Borren, co-chair of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), was there.
MALAYSIA: Rights Champion Seeks Political Career
After winning a gruelling 13-year court battle to avoid being jailed on charges of maliciously publishing false news, Malaysia's best-known human rights champion seeks a political career to continue defending migrant workers and other vulnerable sections of society.
Q&A: Unions Are Key to Healthy Auto Industry
For the last six years, Ron Gettelfinger has been president of the 640,000-member United Auto Workers (UAW), the union that has been the face of the working men and women manufacturing cars in U.S. factories for decades.DEVELOPMENT: Rights In Times of Crisis
For the past three decades, indebted developing countries have been forced by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to deregulate financial and labour markets, privatise national industries, abolish subsidies, and reduce social and economic spending.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Secretary-General Meets with Members of Debt Expert Group. Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debeb
Financial crises are often defined by banking panics, recession, loss of market value, and deflation. Various financial crises at the turn of the 20th century, such as the Asian Crisis of 1997-1998 and the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis, have had immense impacts on the world economy. The COVID-19 pandemic also caused a financial crisis when mass lockdowns triggered staggering unemployment rates, a stagnation of economic growth, and led to the 2020 stock market crash. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the world has also witnessed a global energy crisis with shortages and increased prices in oil, gas, and electricity markets. According to UNCTAD’s World of Debt 2025, global public debt surpassed $100 trillion in 2024, with developing country debt growing twice as fast as developed economies since 2010. Burdens of debt servicing come with economic slowdowns and demands of austerity from lenders, with some economists arguing that this will lead to a new “lost decade” for the Global South. IPS brings you worldwide coverage of these financial developments and how we should manage these crises.
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