Divisions over Ukraine, China's migrants, South China Sea Cables and Chartbook errata
Great links, reading and images from Chartbook Newsletter by Adam Tooze
Fishingboats by Moonlight (1860s?) William Holman Hunt
IMF changing rules to enable assistance to Ukraine
The International Monetary Fund approved changes to its lending rules, enabling it to help countries facing exceptionally high uncertainty and opening the way for support to war-torn Ukraine that’s expected to be worth about $15 billion. The changes apply in situations “involving exogenous shocks that are beyond the control of country authorities and the reach of their economic policies, and which generate larger than usual tail risks” and address key barriers to designing programs for these nations, the Washington-based lender said in a statement Friday. … The fund has traditionally only lent to countries that have a clear path for repaying the organization, to ensure its ability to keep lending to other nations.
This could unlock $15 billion for Ukraine. Source: Bloomberg
Europe is divided in its support for Ukraine’s war effort
Source: FT
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As China’s economy rebounds, will the flow of migrant workers to the cities resume?
Source: Gavekal
Errata: Swiss bankers
For some inexplicable reason in the first published version of Chartbook #202 on Credie Suisse, which I rushed out yesterday, I associated the Swiss “Freisinn” Liberal party with Catholicism.
As various people pointed out on twitter, this makes absolutely zero sense. I checked back over the sources I read and I cannot for the life of me reconstruct how on earth this association formed in my mind. Catholic? Zurich? Plain wrong. Sorry. Also, tbc Nestlé, though associated through board memberships with the Zurich wing of Swiss capital, obviously hails from French-speaking Switzerland. Anyway, I have corrected and clarified these points in the online version of the Newsletter. My apologies for this bizarre mistake. Embarrassing and head-scratching! Readers of Chartbook deserve better.
Vuyile Voyiya (b 1961), I hide my face in shame (Capetown National Gallery)
How I was feeling this morning!
South China Sea Cables
Roadkill matters
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Holman Hunt: The Hirst of his time
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The earth in the 21st-century is drier than before
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Is hydrogen the future? Certainly not if Berlin’s buses are anything to go by!
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London Bridge on the Night of the Marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales (1863) William Holman Hunt (1827–1910)