The Export Preparedness Index 2020 was released by the NITI Aayog with Institute for Competitiveness as the knowledge partner. The index is an empirical tool to inform policymakers of the strengths and challenges of the export ecosystem at the sub-national level.

In this Monitor we consider what role Government Linked Companies (GLCs) might be expected to play in delivering “shared prosperity” in Malaysia and specifically, Bumiputera economic development. This Monitor will argue that a clear assessment of previous and ongoing efforts by GLCs is needed and is sorely lacking. Moreover, the scale and reach of the current GLC policies to support Bumiputera development are by their nature limited and should be secondary to broader structural reform, in which GLCs can play a key role and offer a more substantial contribution to shared prosperity.

Sustainable development and green growth are among IPAG’s core focus areas. In the wake of an ecosystem increasingly threatened by climate change, the sustainability of the economy, the viability of trade, and the growth of environment-friendly investments are ever more salient nowadays. Green growth through green trade and sustainable development is now at the forefront of the 21st-century agenda. Through ensuring a green economy fuelled by green trade a path towards sustainable development can be carved out.

South Africa is said to have had one of the harshest lockdowns in the world. Considering the company we keep that is indeed a harsh appraisal. We also have a baneful distinction, together with countries such as China (and some of the neo-Marxist states of the United States) of having endured one of the most authoritarian regimes. The language of lockdown says all we need to know in that regard. The somewhat secretive composition of the Coronavirus Command Council – until it was a secret no more – whose brief it was to advise, to command, or both, was derived, one may surmise, from the equally secretive KGB, whose authority was based upon no law known to man.