Global Economy
Cash is king, no more
Australia has emerged as the frontrunner in embracing digital payments. A recent global report highlights that Australians now rank among the world’s least frequent cash users. It…
Stepping on the gas: Boosting Australia’s climate diplomacy in the region
The Australia’s women’s soccer team the Matildas may have gone down in the World Cup semi-final this week, but they certainly won over the fans – perhaps none more surprising,…
Pipe dreams: Turning an interconnected ASEAN gas market into a reality
The development began in the 1960s when the Southeast Asian natural gas sector grew significantly after discoveries in Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia. In the decades that followed…
The climate crisis demands sovereign debt justice
International scientific and economic research suggests that developing countries, many of which neither created nor benefitted from historical greenhouse gas emissions, are…
Iran’s lithium lode: A potential strategic game-changer
Iran’s recent unearthing of a vast lithium deposit – potentially the world’s second largest – has sent shockwaves through the global lithium competition landscape. Amid the…
Sri Lanka’s deep debt bind
Sri Lanka today exists in a no man’s land between debt restructure and default. In late June, the government released its proposed domestic debt restructure deal, which in turn…
Economic diplomacy: Hard labour managing geo-economic fragmentation
Catching a wave
The Biden administration’s loosely named Inflation Reduction Act has flowed through the global economy like a tsunami engulfing everything from the reshoring…
De-dollarisation: shifting power between the US and BRICS
There has been increasing talk of the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) developing a new currency that will rival the US dollar as the global reserve…
It’s no surprise Australia shrugged off China’s campaign of trade coercion
It has been clear for some time that China’s campaign of trade coercion against Australia has been rather ineffectual, either in imposing significant economic costs on Australia…
A return to old-school mercantilism?
Talk is cheap. In the international system, states closely monitor each other’s actions and rhetoric becomes secondary. With the acceleration of great power competition, states…