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Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif speaks at the party office of Pakistan Muslim League in Lahore, Pakistan, February 9, 2024.

REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Pakistan’s new government seeks more IMF assistance

On top of facing legitimacy questions following chaotic, violent elections tainted by widespread undemocratic practices, Pakistan’s new coalition government is inheriting an economy in crisis. These economic problems have been fueled by high energy costs, political dysfunction, flooding, and supply chain issues.

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FILE PHOTO: Palestinian employees at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) prepare food aid rations for refugees, in Gaza city on January 19, 2022

Majdi Fathi via Reuters Connect

Hard Numbers: Alt-aid for Gaza, 2024 economic outlook, Continent-sized drug racket busted, Stolen bear on the loose

30 million: Canada has made a new pledge to send nearly $30 million in aid to Gaza. The move comes after Canada followed the US lead in cutting funding to UNRWA, the UN relief agency, in light of Israeli accusations that members of the organization had participated in the Oct. 7 attacks. According to the last full year of data, in 2022 Canada gave about $24 million to UNRWA. The new batch of Canadian aid will be delivered by other UN agencies such as UNICEF, the UN Population Fund, and the World Health Organization. (What’s UNRWA and why is it controversial? Read our explainer here.)

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Former President Donald Trump is attending court while closing arguments in his civil business fraud trial are taking place at the New York Supreme Court on January 11, 2024.

John Nacion/REUTERS

Hard Numbers: Trump lashes out at judge, PNG emergency, Khan’s cricket bat returns, Argentina gets IMF cash, Belichick leaves Patriots

370 million: Former President Donald Trump, during the final day of his civil fraud trial in New York City on Thursday, accused the judge, Arthur Engoron, of having his “own agenda.” In closing arguments, Attorney General Letitia James and her team said Trump’s company issued false and inflated financial statements from 2011-2021. She is asking for nearly $370 million in penalties and a lifetime ban against Trump from the Empire State’s real estate industry. Engoron, who endured a bomb threat at his house in the suburbs early Thursday, said he hopes to issue a ruling by Jan. 31.

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Argentine presidential candidate Javier Milei of La Libertad Avanza coalition holds a placard depicting a dollar bill with his face on it, during a campaign rally in La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina, September 12, 2023.

REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian

Chainsaw cuts path to new Argentina-IMF deal

Argentine President Javier Milei’s dramatic spending cuts have provoked protests at home, but they’ve won him plaudits from abroad. On Thursday, an IMF delegation lands in Buenos Aires, reportedly to restart a $44 billion bailout program for the crisis-wracked country.

The eccentric, “anarcho-capitalist” Milei, who at times campaigned wielding a chainsaw, promised to slash spending to address an economic crisis that has driven inflation above 150% and plunged almost half of the population into poverty.

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Gov. Tiff Macklem walks outside Bank of Canada building in Ottawa

Reuters

IMF expects real GDP growth in the G7

Canada and the US are set to lead economic growth among the G7 – which also includes the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Japan – in 2024. The only hitch? The margin of error for success is razor-thin.
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Staving off default: How unsustainable debt is threatening human progress
UN assistant sec-gen on importance of addressing the growing debt crisis | GZERO Media

Staving off default: How unsustainable debt is threatening human progress

Three-fifths of the world's lowest income countries are debt distressed and in danger of default. Navid Hanif, assistant secretary-general for economic development at the United Nations, tells GZERO's Tony Maciulis that we need to make debt more sustainable by restructuring it. Hanif believes multilateral development banks, such as the World Bank, should offer affordable longer-term loans with lower interest rates to allow least developed countries better opportunities to deal with crises like climate change, poverty, and educating children.

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The world "is more coupled than we think"
The world "is more coupled than we think" | Global Stage | GZERO Media

The world "is more coupled than we think"

Rania Al-Mashat, the Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation, tells GZERO's Tony Maciulis that the pandemic taught us how interconnected we truly are; no one nation can solve a problem as big as climate change, food insecurity, or geopolitical strife on its own. Al-Mashat makes the case for looking beyond the short term problems of inflation and toward longer-term solutions for the most pressing issues of our time.

In a conversation at the World Bank/IMF spring meetings in Washington, DC, she explains the key outcomes of last year's UN Climate Conference COP27, held in her home country, and what the road ahead looks like for climate financing and confronting the looming sovereign debt crisis.

Al-Mashat also states that in the coming months we will learn the new framework and path forward for the World Bank and IMF, institutions whose models have been both challenged and criticized during this historic period of global crises.

Human rights activists demand the safe return of Ricardo Lagunes and Antonio Díaz, community defenders who disappeared on January 15. Mexico City, Mexico, January 22, 2023.

Photo by Luis Barron / Eyepix Group/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

Hard Numbers: Environmentalists targeted, World Bank outlook improves, mass shooting in Louisville, fiery cocktails in Northern Ireland, Winnie-the-Pooh gets punched

24: This year alone, at least two dozen environmental activists have already been murdered or disappeared in Mexico and Central America, according to an investigation by The Guardian. Many are from indigenous communities protesting against mining activities on their traditional lands.

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