Unequal briefing: Biden seeks compensation from Afghans, Madagascar battered by yet another storm
I have decided to break up the newsletter into two segments of unequal importance, of course. The most important would be a briefing, such as this one today, which highlights some of the important happenings from across the world around the theme of inequality. This will also include some reading, watching/listening suggestions, and data snapshots. This is more important because it will bring you facts, which are (or ought to be) sacred.
The second will be my analysis/opinion. That segment may assume a bit of importance if I bring some original reportage or a unique point of view, which I will try and do from time to time.
So, here we go!
Around the World
The President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, invoked emergency powers to dispense with the assets of the Afghan central bank held in New York. Over $7 billion in Afghan assets remains frozen since the US departure and Taliban takeover of the war-torn, drought-stricken and poverty-crippled country. Biden took the extraordinary step to divide the assets into two halves. One half has been earmarked for aid assistance of the Afghan people – 57% of whom face food insecurity – to be provided via a trust fund. The other half has been kept aside as potential compensation for families of the victims of the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks. The move has attracted severe criticism and protests.
One of the world’s largest islands, Madagascar, was hit by yet another weather event, tropical storm Dumako earlier this week. The storm, which originated in the Indian ocean, carried winds up to 95 kilometres per hour. Dumako comes close on the heels of Cyclone Batsirai which ravaged Madagascar in the first week of February. The category 3 cyclone led to the deaths of 120 people and displaced over 30,000. Two weeks before Batsirai, Madagascar – and southern African nations – had been hit by storm Ana that led to the deaths of at least 77 people. Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world with a per capita income of $470 a year.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations this week said that people living in the horn of Africa face catastrophic hunger conditions as the region faces its driest conditions in 4 decades. It said that the multi-season drought coupled with conflict in regions of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia has already led to rising malnutrition rates. Between 12 and 14 million people are at risk as crops are damaged and animals weaken and die. In Somalia alone, 4.1 million people urgently need food assistance. The Guardian has a ground report from Somalia.
India’s unemployment crisis got worse in January, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy said. While the rate of unemployment improved from 7.9 percent in December 2021 to 6.6 percent this January, that was only because fewer people were looking for jobs. The dip in unemployment happened because 6.6 million people dropped out of the workforce and stopped looking for jobs. To make matters even worse, those who were employed continue to lose jobs as the total employment in the country shrunk by 3.3 million, that’s about the size of Uruguay’s population. I wrote a somewhat detailed piece about India’s unemployment crisis a couple of weeks ago.
A Russian invasion of Ukraine could hurt food price inflation. Ukraine is the world’s leading exporter of wheat and a major exporter of corn. Global food prices have risen since the beginning of the pandemic and have hit 10-year highs due to supply chain issues. Experts warn that any further disruption of supplies from Ukraine could lead to a significant rise in prices. Some countries that are already food insecure, like Yemen and Kenya, depend heavily on Ukraine for their supply of wheat.
Further reading
Carbon Brief has a piece by Ayesha Tandon with some mind-numbing numbers on the inequality of global CO2 emissions. One of those numbers is that the carbon footprint of the top 1 percent of emitters is 75 times that of the bottom 50 percent.
William Moseley, who is a food policy expert, argues that it would not be prudent to blame only drought for the food security crisis prevailing in large parts of Africa. He contends it was the dismantling of existing coping mechanisms during the colonial period that has led to the situation.
In the New Yorker, John Cassidy has a strong word of advice for the Federal Reserve – “Don’t panic about inflation”. Cassidy argues that if the Fed raises rates too quickly, it can “crash the housing market, the stock market, and the economy.”
Jayati Ghosh argues that one of the major reasons for the wide variations in the rate of economic recovery among nations is the differences in the fiscal responses of their governments. She makes the case for an increase in the issuance of special drawing rights by the International Monetary Fund.
Data snapshot
What do countries with over 50 participants in this edition of the Winter Olympics have in common? High per capita incomes. The median per capita income among these countries is $40,000, which is four times the world per capita income and over 25 times the per capita income in sub-Saharan Africa.