1 China figures
point to slowdown (BBC) China's industrial output rose 8.6% in January and
February, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Retail sales - a key
measure of consumer spending - also increased 11.8% from the year before,
government figures show. The figures were less than analysts had been
expecting, adding to fears of a slowdown.
Fixed-asset
investment, a measure of government spending on infrastructure, expanded 17.9%.
The data comes as China's leaders wrap up their parliamentary session, known as
the National People's Congress (NPC). During the session, the government
unveiled plans to push ahead with a pilot programme of privately-owned banks,
in order to help open up the financial sector.
At the start of
the NPC earlier this month, China's Premier, Li Keqiang, announced that the
government was expecting the economy to expand at the rate of 7.5% this year,
which is the same target rate as last year. There are worries about the pace of
growth in the Chinese economy, after the country's exports dropped by 18% in
February from the previous year, leading to a trade deficit of $23bn for the
month.
2 Militant
economics (Khurram Husain in Dawn) What we’re actually seeing happen before our
eyes in Pakistan, what lies behind the sustained and painful ‘debates’ on the
merits of talking or fighting, is an inexorable process where the state itself
is being superseded by other, cheaper, more agile, and certainly more
determined models for the deployment of armed force. An entire world stands to
be transformed along the way.
The rise of the
nation state, for instance, brought with it new modern publics, institutions
for the administration of populations, the measurement of economic welfare, a
discourse of rights, notions of citizenship and participation and entitlements.
For the first time, rulers were exhorted to earn their right to rule “from the
just consent of the governed”, an idea largely alien to rulers of ages past.
The supersession
of the nation state will necessarily see all these ideas replaced by something
else. But the replacement will not be smooth, principally because the new
notions that are struggling to be born are far from clear about how they can
form a basis for the exercise of power over large populations.
Even the modern
state inflicted terrible savagery on its own people before recognising them as
citizens, as opposed to subjects. The journey to the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights goes through slavery, colonialism and civil war, for instance. The
new militias that are increasingly challenging the nation state derive their
own sustenance from the very economic and social order that the nation state
presides over. Even the smallest band of determined fighters needs to eat, and
needs ammunition and fuel. It also needs recruits to replenish its ranks. These
recruits usually have families and other social obligations.
In some places,
these militias are able to ‘live off the land’, so to speak. Crime and plunder
can keep them going for a while, but when the fighting gets intense — like the
Congo or Afghanistan — it takes powerful patrons to survive. In short, the very
emergence and rise of these militias poses an economic question. What sort of
an economy can their leaderships envision? How do they see their relationship
with the resources they need to sustain their fight?
3 Volkswagen
profit tumbles (William Boston in The Wall Street Journal) Volkswagen AG, Europe's
largest automotive group, has posted a 58% drop in net profit for 2013 and
issued a cautious outlook for the new business year amid a sluggish recovery in
global car demand and currency risks from emerging markets.
The Wolfsburg,
Germany-based auto group said momentum in global car markets would remain weak
this year and that there are "big risks" for the global economy,
especially from "increasing headwinds" in some emerging markets. "The
automotive year 2013 was especially for European car makers extremely
challenging," said Martin Winterkorn, VW's chief executive. "In light
of the uncertainties our forecast for 2014 is comparatively cautious," Mr.
Winterkorn said.
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