1 ‘Uneven, fragile global growth’ a challenge for
Asia (Straits Times) Global growth remains uneven and fragile, and the
weaker-than-envisaged global economy poses important challenges to developing
Asia, a senior IMF official said, citing weak investment as a key negative
factor in the region.
The global economy faces the prospect of subpar
growth, despite a boost from the recent drop in oil prices, with diminished
prospects in China, Russia, the euro area and Japan, IMF Deputy Managing
Director Naoyuki Shinohara said.
Shinohara flagged the risk of high dollarization in
emerging Asia, which has drawbacks, such as limiting exchange rate flexibility
to mitigate against external shocks and constraining the central bank's ability
as lender of last resort. He called for consideration towards actively
promoting "de-dollarization".
2 Greece may seek loan extension (BBC) Greece is
expected to request a six-month extension of its loan agreement, according to
reports. The loan would not be an extension of the current bailout agreement,
which includes strict austerity measures, Greek government officials were
quoted as saying. On Monday night, Greece rejected a plan to extend its €240bn
(£178bn) bailout, describing it as "absurd".
Without a deal, Greece is likely to run out of
money. The eurozone has given Greece until Friday to decide if it wants to
continue with the current bailout deal. Greece wants to replace the bailout
with a new loan that it says would give it time to find a permanent solution to
the debt crisis.
Greece's current bailout expires on 28 February. Any
new agreement would need to be approved by national governments, so time is
running out to reach a compromise. Earlier Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras
called for a vote to scrap its austerity programme on Friday, the same day as
the eurozone deadline.
Earlier, Germany's Finance Minister, Wolfgang
Schaeuble, said that Greece needed to make up its mind whether it wanted to
extend the bailout programme. US investment bank JP Morgan claimed over the
weekend that €2bn worth of deposits was flowing out of Greek banks each week
and estimated that if that were to remain the case, they would run out of cash
to use as collateral against new loans within 14 weeks.
3 Deciding on college versus dropping out (Kristen V
Brown in San Francisco Chronicle) The notion of ditching college for startup
life has become romanticized, rather than stigmatized, ever since PayPal
co-founder Peter Thiel first introduced his fellowship that gives dropouts
$100,000 each to start companies of their own five years ago.
The Chronicle of Higher Education asked members of
the inaugural Thiel fellowship class one crucial question: Was dropping out
really worth it?
Interviews of nine members of the first class netted
a mixed bag of results. Two fellows left the program early. Six others wound up
going back to school anyway. Six others returned to their studies after their fellowship
ended. Most have since moved on from their initial ideas. Of the four classes of fellows — 83 fellows
in all — their ventures raised $72-million in investments and just $29 million
in revenue.
All but one of nine fellows interviewed said they
learned more in the fellowship than they would have in college. One fellow,
Dale J. Stephens went on to found UnCollege, which provides resources for
self-directed learning to students. Still, “most people would be better off
going to college,” another fellow, Paul Gu, said.
A report released last summer by LinkedIn suggests
that Gu is probably right. It found the majority of venture capital-backed
entrepreneurs had a college degree. “Dropping out of college to make millions
of dollars sounds like a pretty great proposition,” the report said, “but as we
discovered, the data paint a starkly different picture.”
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