Midterm polls will knock Argentine budget off course

Significance The debate has been delayed by November 14 midterm elections. However, the budget has already been criticised both by the opposition, which considers the forecasts excessively optimistic, and by Vice-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (CFK) and her supporters, who believe fiscal tightening in the first half was responsible for the government’s poor performance in the August open primaries. Impacts The 2021 budget deficit will be narrower than initial expectations thanks to the sharp fiscal adjustment in the first half. Next year’s fiscal adjustment will involve cutting energy subsidies, prompting higher tariffs and inflation. Absent new foreign credit, increased Central Bank transfers to the Treasury could fuel an inflationary spiral.

Thoughts and Practice on the Education Projects of Sino-foreign Credit Mutual Recognition in Private Undergraduate Universities

International development is a challenge that each university must face. The educational mechanism of private undergraduate universities is flexible, and has certain advantages in expanding international education programs. Sino-foreign credit mutual recognition programs are more common in private undergraduate universities. With the continuous development of resources and models on international education cooperation, the forms of Sino-foreign credits mutual recognition cooperation are becoming more diversified. The rapid development of Chinese and foreign credit recognition education programs in private undergraduate universities requires scientific and advanced management concepts and support. Young private universities have short international development time and lack of experience. Therefore, relevant issues should be more researched.This paper analyzes the problems and challenges in the education mode and management of Sino-foreign credit mutual recognition projects in private undergraduate universities, and puts forward relevant countermeasures. This paper will analyze the problems and challenges in the education mode and management of Sino-foreign credit mutual recognition projects in private undergraduate universities, and put forward relevant countermeasures.

The Influence of Waqf Distribution and Promotion on Community Trust (Case Study: Tabung Wakaf Indonesia)

Waqf is a potential source of funds to overcome social problems, but most poverty reduction programmes rely on foreign credit, especially from the World Bank. In this case, the development of a waqf by a nadzir can be an alternative source of funding in the general economic empowerment, which is supported by society�s trust in waqf institutions. Therefore, this study is conducted to identify the factors that determine public trust and to examine the influence of waqf distribution and promotion on society trust in waqf funds managed by Tabung Wakaf Indonesia. This paper used quantitative methods and utilized primary data through direct surveys with questionnaires were collected and analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The findings reveal that promotion and distribution have significant relationships with society trust. In addition, this study indicates that distribution has the greater impact than promotion on influencing society trust in waqf management. The findings nevertheless give a wide understanding of the concept of public trust and its antecedent in the context of Tabung Wakaf Indonesia.

Essence of Competitiveness in the Banking Sector: The Status and Problems

The article is aimed at closer defining the content of the concept of «bank competitiveness», as well as analyzing the status and problems of ensuring a competitive environment in the banking system of Ukraine. The essence of banking competition was researched and a critical analysis of approaches to understanding the concept of «bank competitiveness» was carried out. Under the concept of «bank competitiveness», it is proposed to understand the integral characterization, which will reflect the real and potential opportunities of the bank to create and promote competitive products and services that meet all customer requirements, occupy and maintain stable positions in the banking market. The analysis of the competitive environment in the banking sector of Ukraine was carried out. The distribution of net assets of banks by groups: State-owned, foreign, private and separately PrivatBank is also analyzed. The assessment of the level of concentration in the banking sector was carried out by calculating the Herfindahl-Hirschmann Index by the level of total and net assets, as well as by the market of deposits of individuals. According to the identified dynamics, an unambiguous conclusion was made that the banking sector of Ukraine is low-concentrated. In general, the analysis of the competitive environment showed positive tendencies and an increase in the competitiveness of banks. The problems that continue to adversely affect the level of competitiveness of banks are allocated as follows: significant proportion of the State-owned banks; problems in lending to big business, as well as the generally low level of capitalization of Ukrainian banks compared to foreign credit institutions; the insufficient number of products and services offered by banks compared to foreign banking markets.

Electoral Rules, Interest Group Pressures, and the Price of Democratic Default

Conventional wisdom dictates that democracies are reliable in upholding their international commitments. However, this assertion is at odds with democratic behavior in sovereign borrowing where democracies have sometimes imposed considerable losses on foreign creditors. Why do some democracies choose to renege on extremely large portions of their sovereign debt during economic crisis? This article argues that costs incurred by creditors are dependent on how the borrowing state's electoral system aggregates competing domestic economic interests. Internationally oriented economic interests prefer to minimize creditor losses since sizeable debt reductions are more likely to compromise access to foreign credit. Conversely, workers and domestic-oriented economic interests prefer to maximize losses faced by foreign creditors in order to ease the costs of austerity at home. By shaping the political incentives of policymakers, I argue that democracies with candidate-centric electoral systems should be associated with sovereign defaults that are less costly for foreign creditors. Under these electoral systems, governments hold incentives to cater primarily to internationally oriented economic interests that are best able to overcome the costs of collective action. Statistical evidence from 53 sovereign debt restructurings between 1978 and 2012 supports the main argument.

The Rise and Fall of the Patria Financiera

This chapter traces the rise and fall of Argentina's version of the “bankers' alliance” over the course of the crisis. The state's growing dependence on credit over the course of the 1990s initially strengthened the position of those considered to be most capable of attracting foreign credit and investment, and fulfilled a bridging role to foreign lenders. As the crisis began to bite, however, the social costs of austerity and structural adjustment gradually eroded the legitimacy of the political establishment and the country's democratic institutions more generally, leading to mass demonstrations and a demonstrable shift in popular preferences from repayment to default. The citizens' revolt eventually forced President Fernando De la Rúa and economy minister Domingo Cavallo from office, causing the third enforcement mechanism of internalized discipline to break down. The popular uprising was therefore the final push that eventually made the inevitable unstoppable.