Attention Economy


Friday, March 18, 2022

Rethinking the Global Monetary Order

Putin’s War Could Make Central Banks a Crypto Battlefield
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-03-17/putin-s-war-will-put-central-bankers-on-the-cryptocurrency-frontlines
Tough times will push stablecoin adoption in Russia, just as it did in Turkey. That could further erode the powers of central banks everywhere.

Why India Is Losing Faith in the West
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-03-17/ukraine-invasion-why-india-is-angry-about-russia-sanctions
Mihir Sharma:
Meanwhile, those same Western nations are proving themselves poor stewards of the global commons. Take the cutoff of several Russian banks from the SWIFT financial messaging system. We have grown accustomed to thinking of interbank communications as a global utility; they’ve now been turned into a tool of Western foreign policy.
This was a unilateral decision by the countries that control SWIFT which, besides the U.S. and Japan, are all European. Little thought was given to how countries such as India, which rely on SWIFT to pay for oil and fertilizers from Russia, would manage the fallout. It should come as no surprise that India’s reaction has been to look for a way around the sanctions by settling trade with Russia in rupees and rubles.
Criticizing India for continuing to buy oil from Russia is especially galling, given that European nations have yet to wean themselves off Russian energy supplies either. And, unlike them, India can hardly afford such bills. If oil remains above $70 a barrel for months, the rupee will collapse, the government will run out of spending money, inflation will skyrocket and the country will have to start worrying about a balance of payments crisis.


The weaponization of finance threatens the future of the dollar standard | The Hill
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/596116-the-weaponization-of-finance-may-threaten-the-future-of-the-dollar-standard