By Friedrich Wenzel Bulst & Sophie De Vinck, Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP) at the European Commission Over the last two decades, our lives have become increasingly built on and around digital technologies. As a result, digital markets have become a central focus of competition enforcement. Following a flurry of reporting on the metaverse as the next digital frontier, this piece explores what we may expect from the metaverse and what that could mean for EU competition law enforcement....

Policy responses to currency depreciation pressures should focus on the drivers of the exchange-rate moves and signs of market disruptions The dollar is at its highest level since 2000, having appreciated 22 percent against the yen, 13 percent against the Euro and 6 percent against emerging market currencies since the start of this year. Such a sharp strengthening of the dollar in a matter of months has sizable macroeconomic implications for almost all countries, given the dominance of the dollar...

The OECD delivered today a new global tax transparency framework to provide for the reporting and exchange of information with respect to crypto-assets. The Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) responds to a G20 request that the OECD develop a framework for the automatic exchange of information between countries on crypto-assets. The CARF will be presented to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors for discussion at their next meeting on 12-13 October in Washington D.C, as part of the latest OECD Secretary-General’s...

Growth is projected to slow to 2.7% as the war in Ukraine, inflation, and Covid recovery weigh on the world economy. Global economic activity is experiencing a broad-based and sharper-than-expected slowdown, with inflation higher than seen in several decades. The cost-of-living crisis, tightening financial conditions in most regions, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the lingering COVID-19 pandemic all weigh heavily on the outlook. Global growth is forecast to slow from 6.0 percent in 2021 to 3.2 percent in 2022 and...

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the five biggest European national promotional banks met to discuss the progress of existing joint initiatives, such as the Joint Initiative on Circular Economy (JICE), Quick Response — Care for Ukrainian Refugees in Europe, and Fund Marguerite. KfW CEO Stefan Wintels hosted EIB President Werner Hoyer and the other CEOs at the German promotional bank’s Berlin building. The heads of the respective institutions also exchanged views on the various national and European initiatives for...

Scaling up private capital is crucial to finance vital low-carbon infrastructure projects, particularly in less developed economies Private climate financing must play a pivotal role as emerging markets and developing economies seek to curb greenhouse gas emissions and contain climate change while coping with its effects. Estimates vary, but these economies must collectively invest at least $1 trillion in energy infrastructure by 2030 and $3 trillion to $6 trillion across all sectors per year by 2050 to mitigate climate change by...

One single charger for all mobile phones and tablets - beneficial for the environment and for consumers USB Type-C port will be the new standard for portable devices, offering high-quality charging and data transfers Buyers will be able to choose whether to purchase a new device with or without a charging device Following Parliament’s approval, EU consumers will soon be able to use a single charging solution for their electronic devices. By the end of 2024, all mobile phones, tablets...

Mutual funds holding hard-to-sell assets but offering daily redemptions can spark volatility and magnify the impact of shocks, especially in periods of market stress Mutual funds that allow investors to buy or sell their shares daily are an important component of the financial system, offering investment opportunities to investors and providing financing to companies and governments. Open-end investment funds, as they are known, have grown significantly in the past two decades, with $41 trillion in assets globally this year. That represents...