
By Gwynne Dyer – Xi Jinping was confirmed in a third term as president of China at the National People’s Congress this month, and not one of the 3,000 delegates voted against him. Why would they? Everything is perfect in the People’s Republic of Oz, and the chief Wizard doesn’t even need to hide behind a curtain.

The banking turmoil, and fears, seems to be easing as assets and loans of collapsed California Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) are being bought by rival First Citizens BancShares.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said during an EU summit last Friday in Brussels that Europe's banking system is stable and solid. The leaders of the Eurozone countries met with the head of the European Central Bank, ECB, Christine Lagarde, to discuss the potential fallsou of several major banks collapsing in the US and Switzerland.

China reopened its market for beef exports from Brazil las week, Thursday (3/23). The information was passed on to the Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro, and to the Brazilian delegation in Beijing by the country’s General Administration of Customs (GACC).

Brazil informed Beijing that president Lula da Silva'a official visit to China had to be postponed because the Brazilian leader had contracted influenza and pneumonia. This however has not prevented a major business and investment summit between the two countries to continue in Beijing with the participation of a Brazilian delegation of some 240 members.

The Falkland Islands Government is pleased to confirm that, following a detailed review of updated fiscal and economic information, supported by a process of confidential interviews with FIG officers and other stakeholders, including representatives of the business community, S&P Global Ratings have confirmed the sovereign rating for the Falkland Islands remains at A+ with a stable outlook.

Heads of State and Government convened in Santo Domingo for the XXVIII Ibero-American Summit which is focused on post Covid-19 pandemic economic recovery in a world hit by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has been elected Friday to head the New Development Bank (NDB), also known as the BRICS Bank to replace Marcos Troyjo, who had held the post since July 2020. Rousseff will remain at the helm of the Shanghai-based financial institution until the end of Brazil's mandate in July 2025. Each BRICS country (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) chairs the bank for rotating five-year terms. She will take office later next week during President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva's visit.

The annual monitoring mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently concluded its nearly two-week visit to Montevideo, providing a positive assessment of Uruguay's economy and the government's reform efforts. However, the mission also gauged the pulse of Uruguay's political landscape ahead of the 2024 elections, weekly newspaper Búsqueda informed.

Argentina's Gross Domestic Product (GDP - the sum of all products and services traded) grew by 5.2% in 2022, a 1.9% improvement from 2021, the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec) reported Thursday in a study that also showed that last year's fourth quarter GDP was 1.9% higher than that of the same period of 2021, but 1.5% below the third quarter of 2022.