Yesterday I wrote about the just-released UN High-Level Panel (HLP) report on post-2015 development goals. The focus of the report on global partnerships for inclusive development—extending beyond aid, to tackle the basic rules of the global economy—got me thinking about a relatively arcane but increasingly important set of rules called Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs). BITs are treaties between governments that guarantee foreign investors a number of rights, including protection against expropriation and limitations on capital controls and performance requirements, with the goal of promoting foreign investment by protecting investors from unfair and arbitrary treatment by capital-importing governments. These treaties also give private foreign investors the unique ability to bring suits against sovereign governments in binding international arbitration, called an “investor right of action.” So, are these kinds of global economic rules good or bad for inclusive development?

Read more »

This week a team from the International Monetary Fund is in Cairo yet again, attempting to reach agreement with the Egyptian government on a $4.8 billion loan to plug Egypt’s increasingly serious external financing gap and budget deficit. Egypt’s foreign currency reserves—in precipitous decline as the Central Bank continues to prop up the exchange rate in efforts to avoid skyrocketing costs for wheat and other staple imports—have dropped from more than $36 billion in early 2011 to less than $14 billion at the end of March.  Egypt’s budget deficit now stands at nearly 11 percent of GDP.

Read more »

On his blog last week, CFR senior fellow John Campbell discussed Zimbabwe’s failing maize crops and growing food aid needs. While the government says that drought is the main cause, Campbell suggests that policy is also responsible. As he argues: Read more »

Yesterday on my blog, Democracy in Development, I discussed how Rio+20, despite its shortcomings, put a spotlight on several important issues. As I conclude: Read more »

In an interview today on CFR.org, CFR Senior Fellow Thomas Bollyky discusses the environmental and development issues on the table at the Rio+20 Conference. Bollyky suggests that the conference’s ultimate legacy is uncertain, saying: Read more »

In an op-ed in yesterday’s Folha de Sao Paulo (Brazil), CFR Senior Fellow Julia Sweig discusses how to measure the success of the ongoing Rio+20 Conference. Sweig characterizes the size and scope of the meeting as “too big to succeed,” arguing that: Read more »