subsidies

U.S.-Funded IMF Agrees to Give Pakistan $3 Billion Bailout

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), an international organization heavily funded by the United States, on Friday reached an agreement with Pakistan to provide $3 billion in short-term financial aid. The Pakistani bond market perked up at news that a potential debt default crisis has been delayed, but not enough to suggest that investors see a bright future for Pakistan’s finances.

Men collect free bread from a distribution point in Peshawar on April 3, 2023. - Poor Paki

Thousands of Indonesians Protest Against Fuel Price Hikes

Thousands of demonstrators marched through the cities of Indonesia on Tuesday, protesting against the first hike in government-subsidized fuel prices in eight years. The blowback may prove to be the stiffest challenge to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s popularity since his re-election in 2019.

A fuel truck drives past university students marching along a road during a protest agains

A Test of ‘Solidarity’: EU Deadlocked over Attempts to Stuff Brexit-Sized Budget Hole

A second day of negotiating over the post-Brexit EU budget is looking to end again in deadlock with member-states split between the “Frugals”, who want less spending; the poorer, mostly former Soviet satellite states who want more money; and the European Parliament which wants the budget period increased to a massive €1.32 trillion to help turn the EU carbon neutral.

France's President Emmanuel Macron arrives for the second day of a special European Counci

Covered California Thinks It Can Survive Trump

Despite President-elect Donald Trump picking hard-core Obamacare foe Republican Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services, California’s huge Obamacare exchange thinks it can survive the promised “repeal and replace.”

Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images